Who Chooses Who Is Going to Get Rescued?

A billionaire and four other very wealthy people board a submarine to travel to see the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic – deep-sea tourism – and there is a malfunction so they are lost. Massive ships, helicopters, and expensive equipment are flown in from around the world to find them over five days. Thousands of millions of dollars in expense to the various countries like Canada, the U.S., the U.K and France as well as private participants.

A fishing vessel with a bunch of people from third-world countries trying to reach richer shores leaves Libya on the way to Italy. The vessel capsizes in EU waters near Greece. A distress call is sent to nearby vessels to help the boat. Those civilian boats save who they can. The rest are presumed dead.

Is it because one group of individuals is more valuable than the other? Is it that one group has more to offer society than the other? Is it that one group are citizens of the first world and the other group are citizens of the third world? Is it that North America can mobilize faster than the EU/? What is it?

What do you think?