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New Delhi: Wendy Rush, the wife of CEO of the OceanGate Expeditions, the missing Titanic tourist submarine, is a descendant of a US couple who died when the Titanic sank in 1912, according to a New Yo

New Delhi: Wendy Rush, the wife of CEO of the OceanGate Expeditions, the missing Titanic tourist submarine, is a descendant of a US couple who died when the Titanic sank in 1912, according to a New York Times report. Wendy Rush is married to Stockton Rush, one of the five men trapped in Titan after it vanished on Sunday, June 18 during a trip to visit the historic wreckage.

Wendy Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of Isador Straus — who co-founded Macy’s department store — and Ida Straus, who were among the wealthiest people aboard the Titanic’s ill-fated transatlantic voyage, according to archived records obtained by the New York Times.

They were also immortalized in James Cameron’s 1997 film ‘Titanic’, fictionally being shown tragically embracing on a bed as water rushed into the ship in an iconic scene from the movie.

The revelation comes as crews continued to search a remote area of the Atlantic ocean for the missing sub containing her husband, a French explorer, an English billionaire, a Pakistani billionaire and his son.

Isidor and Ida Straus are depicted lying on a bed as the water rises in the 1997 film.

According to Daily Mail, Wendy Rush’s great-grandparents had a chance to escape the 1912 tragedy on a lifeboat. However, Isidor Straus, who served as a US congressman, refused to leave until all women and children had deboarded the ill-fated ship while Ida Straus was adamant to stay with her husband.

The report stated that Ida Straus even gave her fur coat to her maid, Ellen Bird, in freezing temperatures as she left on a sailboat.

While Isidor Straus’ remains were found at the sea two weeks after the Titanic sank, his wife’s body could not be located, The New York Times reported.

A locket was recovered from Isidor’s body, which Kurzman says contained two photographs: ‘One of the photographs was of their eldest son, Jesse, and the other was of their eldest daughter, and that, of course, was Sara, my grandmother.’

Wendy Rush has visited the Titanic wreckage three times with her husband’s company in the last two years, and works as OceanGate’s communications director.

Stockton Rush, 61, founded OceanGate in 2009.

Search area for lost Titanic-bound submersible deepens

Rescuers on Wednesday rushed more ships and vessels to the area where a submersible disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search in an increasingly urgent mission.

Crews were scouring an area twice the size of Connecticut in waters 2 1/2 miles deep, said Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District, who noted that authorities are still holding out hope of saving the five passengers onboard the Titan.

This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)

“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” he said. ”… We’ll continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members.”

The area of the North Atlantic where the Titan went missing on Sunday is prone to fog and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, said Donald Murphy, an oceanographer who served as chief scientist of the Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol.

The lost submersible could be as deep as about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface near the watery tomb of the Titanic.