E-cigarettes will be prohibited in checked baggage aboard aircraft from 15 June due to fires caused when the battery accidentally activated, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said.

The formal ban follows an advisory by the UN aviation body to its member states in December, 2014, that passengers be required to carry vaping devices with them in the cabin, ICAO said. “Several incidents have been reported involving e-cigarette heating elements being accidentally activated and resulting in fires in checked baggage,” said ICAO President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu.