Thousands of wildlife officials and volunteers have taken up positions in treetop huts near reservoirs and watering holes for Sri Lanka’s first national count of its dwindling wild elephant population.

A herd of elephants trampled a fruit picker to death in a remote Malaysian jungle in the first such case in years.

Three wild elephants died from their injuries after stepping on a land mine in north-eastern Sri Lanka because government veterinarians refused to go to rebel-held territory without army and Red Cross escorts, officials said today.