'They were living, breathing people' - Belfast Titanic enthusiast reacts to complaints about Titan tragedy victims' wealth

​Stephen Cameron, a 71-year-old former firefighting commander, was reacting to an upwelling of criticism of the four tourists and their pilot, largely from leftist social media users.

Perhaps typical of them was self-described communist and Guardian contributor Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar), who tweeted about the incident many times to her 415,000+ followers over the last few days.

"The Titanic submarine is a modern morality tale of what happens when you have too much money, and the grotesque inequality of sympathy, attention and aid for those without it. Migrants are ‘meant’ to die at sea; billionaires aren’t,” said one tweet.

"We're not talking about people forced into unseaworthy vessels out of desperation, we're talking about obscenely wealthy individuals without an ounce of humility,” read another.

She also opined: “If the super-rich can spend £250,000 on vanity jaunts 2.4 miles beneath the ocean then they're not being taxed enough. We get well-funded public services, they get saved from the consequences of their own hubris. What's not to like?”

In response to such sentiments, Mr Cameron, a historian and member of the Belfast Titanic Society, said: “I feel that's wrong. You've got more money than me, or I've got more money than you – does it really matter in life? It's how you go about yourself.

"It's extremely sad and I feel very much for them, and their relatives as well. They were people – they were breathing individuals. They were alive. I don't agree with the attitude that ‘because they have a bit more money, who cares about them?’”