makes the whole world kin

An aircraft disappears, and the breadcrumb search for it holds the world's attention.  The fascination is that of vicarious detective work, with the appeal of coiled emotional outrage.  It works like on the public mind like the Boston Marathon bombing, but with more global reach.  Man is the investigating animal.  That trait shows itself in no proportion to the functional importance of the subject (that would instead point to Syria) - but is in strict proportion to our receptivity to such events.