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Carr Center Senior Fellow and former Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth speaks to the disparity in responses to the recent migrant ship and submersible disasters.

President Obama spoke in a recent interview about how the two tragedies at sea were emblematic of the much broader issue of economic inequality. Media coverage buzzed around the five people lost in a submersible that people later learned suffered a 'catastrophic implosion' but the sinking of a ship carrying hundreds of migrants to Italy gathered relatively little attention, though more than 700 people are feared dead.

“Governments pulled out all the stops to try to save the five mainly wealthy people exploring the Titanic ruins, but when it came to hundreds of migrants packed into an obviously precarious boat, the Greek Coast Guard made only token efforts to help before it sank. That was not accidental.”

Ken Roth released a statement calling out the starkly different responses to the two tragedies, and how the disparity between rescue efforts was not accidental.

“Governments pulled out all the stops to try to save the five mainly wealthy people exploring the Titanic ruins, but when it came to hundreds of migrants packed into an obviously precarious boat, the Greek Coast Guard made only token efforts to help before it sank. That was not accidental.”

He added, "The European Union’s approach to migration across the Mediterranean is to discourage rescue because that provides an immediate opportunity to seek asylum. Rather, by avoiding rescue opportunities, the E.U. hopes that the greater chance of drowning at sea will deter would-be migrants."

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