Palashbari (Bangladesh), April 11 (Reuters): Rescuers struggled today to bring in heavy equipment to the site of a nine-storey building that collapsed near Bangladesh?s capital with hundreds of people inside working in a garment factory.

Rescuers dug out 17 bodies and pulled 80 people alive from the debris but narrow roads leading to the site and stream of mourners hampered rescue efforts.

Swamps and paddy fields surrounding the disaster site also hampered rescue efforts, officials and witnesses said. Heavy equipment, including excavators and cranes, were deployed only by this afternoon, they said. The army also brought in sniffer dogs.

Police and firefighters said the building collapsed early today at about an hour after midnight, just as many employees were working the night shift at Shahriar Fabrics at Palashbari, 30 km from Dhaka.

?In a few minutes the entire structure crumbled like a house of cards,? a witness said. A massive pile of concrete slabs is all that remains of the building. Medical units supplied water to trapped survivors after cutting holes in the building?s roof.