Why do Titan sub victims' lives matter more than migrants killed in the Greece boat tragedy?

The sea sent a chilling message in the middle of June, following two horrific accidents. The first: a vessel carrying 750 people across the Mediterranean, fleeing the hell of their countries towards what they believed would be a place of safety.

Crammed onto a fishing trawler, they'd paid the smugglers everything they had to secure a spot. The boat is nameless, was old and rusty, with enough room for a quarter of the number that was onboard. Passengers set off from Tobruk on Libya's eastern coast, unaware the smugglers had tricked them when they said the ship was safe and assured them they would reach their destination.

On route to Italy, close to the Greek coast, their ship started sinking, and issued SOS calls. But the Greek coastguard were sluggish to act, slow to report the looming disaster - and the trawler swiftly sank. The result was that a hundred people saved themselves by swimming towards the shore. 82 corpses were retrieved from the sea, while over 500 people are now lying at the bottom of the ocean, among them around 100 children.

''The desperate and unfortunate are many: the stories of their drownings or killings, or of their flight from their homelands, have become "dull" . It is the billionaire explorers – even if we're unsure exactly what they were offering humanity in the way of new scientific discovery – who are lionised and celebrated, for whom the world is overwhelmed by its grief.''

The second accident occurred three days later, thousands of kilometres away in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the American and Canadian coasts. Another vessel, a mini-submersible, endowed with state-of-the-art technology, and fully-equipped for a seven-hour voyage, descended 4,000 metres under the ocean's surface. It was furnished with everything needed to achieve its goal.

This was to peruse the wreck of a ship which sank over 100 years ago, the name of which is famous across the world thanks to the movie: "Titanic". 

Onboard the minisub that was named "Titan", were five people: a British billionaire, a Pakistani billionaire and his son, the CEO of the company that built the submersible, and a former naval officer from France who was a "specialist" in the Titanic shipwreck - the object of the trip.

How migrant tragedy unfolded on the high seas off Greece https://t.co/hmo2QFVQAq pic.twitter.com/esOkihAwgk

— CNA (@ChannelNewsAsia) June 15, 2023

These five, contrary to the hundreds fleeing terror across the Mediterranean three days earlier, sought this thrill-seekers' party that cost them each $250,000. They all signed a pledge that they realised the risk of death during the trip, which was termed "exploratory".

However, something malfunctioned in the vessel's system, and, according to the initial investigation, there was an implosion in its core which instantly ripped apart the bodies of the adventurers, whose remains now scattered alongside the wreckage of the sunken "Titanic" .

The world hardly noticed the first accident, which took place in the Mediterranean. The main outcome was Greek political parties' vying to outdo each other with their response, with one party condemning the coastguard's inaction in the face of the continuous distress calls, and another party announcing a period of mourning for the hundreds of victims their sea had swallowed.

The image we received of the victims was limited to a snapshot of the fishing trawler, in the first moments it started sinking. We don't know a single face belonging to a single victim. Just a few images of brothers, cousins, neighbours, rushing to the Greek port to check on a relative, neighbour or friend.

They came from European cities near and far, where they'd settled, having also fled the hell of their homelands, before those aboard the sunken ship. Their nationalities were mixed - Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian, Pakistani and Afghan.

As for what befell the adventurers in the Atlantic, the media frenzy generated went global. We have consigned to memory the faces of the victims, their nationalities, ages, life stories, talents, fears, their courage and their love of science. There wasn't one media outlet or news report – with the story updates receiving wall-to-wall coverage – that wasn't talking about them in sorrowful tones and posting photos of the victims.

Countless international organisations joined the rescue effort, including the US coastguard and six US aircraft planes. The Canadian air force was enlisted, as were five ships, and a number of underwater vessels designed for deep-sea surveillance (it is now known that the US Navy had been monitoring the vibrations of the minisub from afar from the start, and that seconds after the accident it had already concluded that the vessel had exploded).

When the news of the explosion was officially announced, tributes poured in for the five victims. Messages full of sympathy and offers of support flooded in, especially regarding "psychological support" to their families.

And other mourners lined up to pay their respects: The White House, the British and Pakistani foreign ministers, state dignitaries of many levels and nationalities, individuals and celebrities, news channels. An investigation into the accident was launched, which may or may not end, but which will raise much scientific and philosophical discussion.

The two incidents confirm the obvious: the rich enjoy a treatment starkly different to the desperate, miserable and poor.

The synchronicity of the two incidents placed this difference under a penetrating microscope. Through it, we see up close how the wealthy have personal, individual identities, faces and achievements, and grieving relatives who give interviews to TV and radio. The masses will devour all of this with the same eagerness with which they await the latest fads of the most famous celebrities and billionaires.

As for the desperate, those who were on the fishing trawler, they have no names, nor faces, nor stories. We don't know the hell they were fleeing, nor the fate that awaits the survivors.

This information is not interesting.

The desperate and unfortunate are many: the stories of their drownings or killings, or of their flight from their homelands, have become "dull" . It is the billionaire explorers – even if we're unsure exactly what they were offering humanity in the way of new scientific discovery – who are lionised and celebrated, for whom the world is overwhelmed by its grief.

If you tried dividing the number that perished in the depths of the Mediterranean by the number who met their end three days later in the North Atlantic, you will find that the life of each one of those blessed with a level of luxury and wealth that allowed such "exploratory" adventures, is equal to 150 of those fleeing their countries on that dilapidated fishing boat.

But if we consider all those who've drowned in the Mediterranean since the waves of mass exodus began from countries drowning in hardship and suffering, we get an even starker result: one billionaire equals thousands of the desperate.

Tributes are being paid to the three British citizens among five men who died after the Titan sub suffered a "catastrophic implosion" https://t.co/hEt2fEFZ9A

— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 23, 2023

Indeed, in the vision that has been presented to us, the suffering are depicted as a featureless mass, represented by a run-down fishing trawler. Opposite them stand exceptional individuals, who happen to be extremely rich, with whose features, life stories and exploits we have been filled to the brim.

Ahead of them is a vessel like a spacecraft, also endowed with its own unique personality. Improvements will be made to it over the next decade, thus immortalising the names of the five who died in it and who will be described as the "vanguard" - who gave their lives to science, perhaps also as martyrs, their names borne by other vessels in the future.

Dalal Al-Bizri is a Lebanese writer and researcher. She writes for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister publication.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original click here. Translated by Rose Chacko

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@alaraby.co.uk

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.