Media professor Joe Watson described Brazier's actions as a 'horrible moment for journalism'. 
 
 Sky News has apologised profusely after one of its presenters was shown rifling through the personal belongings of a stricken passenger at the MH17 crash site. 
 
 In a live broadcast on Sunday afternoon, Sky News presenter Colin Brazier was shown picking items – including a set of keys and toothbrush – out of the opened luggage before saying: "We shouldn't really be doing this, I suppose." 
 
 The footage was met with a storm of criticism online, including media professor Joe Watson who described it as a "horrible moment for journalism" and others who accused Sky News of invading the privacy of the deceased. 
 
 BBC Sport presenter Jacqui Oatley said she was "absolutely astonished" by Brazier's actions, while BBC radio presenter Shelagh Fogarty added: "Sky!!! Get your reporter to STOP rummaging thru belongings at #mH17 crash site. "We shouldn't really be doing this" NO S**T Sherlock !! Those items are essentially sacred things now for the relatives. Just appalling." 
 
 The incident came amid concerns from air accident investigators that the MH17 crash site had been contaminated by the round-the-clock presence of armed pro-Russia separatists, locals and the international media. A coalition of investigators are expected to arrive at the site for the first time on Monday, four days after the disaster which killed all 298 people on the Malaysian Airlines aircraft when it came down near Grabovo in eastern Ukraine on Thursday. 
 
 A spokeswoman for Sky News said: "Today whilst presenting from the site of the MH17 air crash Colin Brazier reflected on the human tragedy of the event and showed audiences the content of one of the victims' bags. Colin immediately recognised that this was inappropriate and said so on air. Both Colin and Sky News apologise profusely for any offence caused." 
 
 The spokeswoman said Sky News had received "a handful" of complaints from viewers in the hours after the broadcast, which was shared hundreds of times on Twitter. Some viewers said they would take their complaints to the media regulator Ofcom for the "appalling" breach of privacy. Another Twitter user, named Shelly, said: "I have never seen something so disrespectful. Time to rethink my Sky subscription, I think." 
 
 Brazier, who was nominated for the presenter of the year award at this year's Royal Television Society Awards, later reported that he had come across scores of human remains at the site. 
 
 He said: "I've been walking around, coming across body parts all the time, many of them charred beyond recognition. Men, women and children, indeterminate frankly, you can't tell. Very often you are looking at charred spines, that's all that's left. 
 
 "There are flies. It is hot. There are stretchers lying by the roadside. They have not been used because many of the bodies were dismembered by the forces of the impact. It is a truly macabre, horrific situation. There is a degree of anarchy and lawlessness." 

 MH17: Outrage as Sky reporter Colin Brazier sifts through Malaysia Airlines victims’ luggage live on TV 
 
 SKY News reporter rummages through MH17 luggage 0:12 Play video SKY News reporter Colin Brazier has come under fire after being filmed going through the luggage of dead passengers on board MH17. 
 
 A BRITISH reporter has sparked outrage after he rifled through victims’ luggage at the MH17 crash scene during a live report for Sky News. 
 
 Colin Brazier was reporting from the scene in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, describing the horror that befell the 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. 
 
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 “Everything people would pack, perhaps, to travel, sunglasses ...” he says as he stands amid strewn luggage. 
 
 “I think it’s a small girl’s bag by the looks of things. A set of keys, a toothbrush,” he continues picking things up out of a suitcase and showing them to the camera. 
 
 He then quickly realises what he’s doing and pulls back. 
 
 “We shouldn’t really be doing this I suppose really.” 
 
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 But the damage was done, with thousands taking the seasoned reporter to task on Twitter over his actions and calling for his resignation. 
 
 Lost a lot of respect for Sky News after Colin Brazier rummaging through a dead person's luggage. Unbelievable. — Ste (@OriginalsLFC) July 20, 2014 
 
 Sky News reporter Colin Brazier talks about dignity, after he's had a rummage through a dead person's suitcase... #NewLow — Jack Clarke (@JackClarkeBAMMJ) July 20, 2014 
 
 The footage of Sky News presenter Colin Brazier rifling through the luggage of #MH17 victims is really quite disgusting. — Emma Hussain (@FiercelyHip) July 20, 2014 
 
 Genuinely shocking actions from Colin Brazier of Sky News there. — Adam Haworth (@adamzander) July 20, 2014 
 
 Sky News issued an apology through a spokeswoman saying: “Today whilst presenting from the site of the MH17 air crash, Colin Brazier reflected on the human tragedy of the event and showed audiences the content of one of the victims’ bags. Colin immediately recognised that this was inappropriate and said so on air. Both Colin and Sky News apologise profusely for any offence caused.”
– A set of keys and a toothbrush may seem like innocuous, everyday items, but they become sacred when they belong to the dead. So when Sky News reporter Colin Brazier was caught during a live broadcast yesterday riffling through the personal effects—toothbrush and keys among them—of one of the deceased passengers at the MH17 crash site in Ukraine, people around the world responded angrily, calling the act "disrespectful" and "appalling." In a statement, Sky News says it has received a "handful" of complaints from viewers, reports the Guardian, and both Sky News and Brazier "apologize profusely for any offense caused." Brazier, who was nominated for this year's Royal Television Society presenter of the year award, was standing amidst a pile of luggage, reports news.com.au, when he said: "I think it’s a small girl’s bag by the looks of things. A set of keys, a toothbrush." He then stopped himself from riffling through the luggage further when he said, "We really shouldn't be doing this, I suppose." He went on to say he'd encountered scores of body parts charred to the point of being unrecognizable. "It is a truly macabre, horrific situation," he said of the carnage in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, where 283 passengers and 15 crew perished. "There is a degree of anarchy and lawlessness." (An American and a scientist studying in the US were on the flight.)