Prime Minister David Cameron has appeared to rebuke a Sky News reporter who touched items in a victim's suitcase during a live broadcast at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Cameron (pictured, Reuters) said people leafing through victims' belongings and suitcases was "completely inappropriate" and called on the media and pro-Russian separatists to understand they are dealing with "effectively a murder scene".

Sky News apologised after its foreign reporter Colin Brazier picked up a toiletry bag and a set of keys from an open suitcase full of the victim's belongings during a live broadcast from the scene.