From one perspective I agree with you. E.g. there's nothing sad about the fact that I have followed some of the news about this incident, it is interesting afterall.

But I think most of us would agree that it is sad that humans cannot allocate public resources in a more utilitarian way to save lives or maximalize happiness.[0]

And I think the reason of that is human nature. Our empathy doesn't care about scales of a tragedies. An individual sad tale can make us feel exactly the same as a war where millions are affected.

[0] Planet Money had an insightful episode on this: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/835571843