PUNE, July 9 -- A massive rescue operation was launched on Wednesday afternoon after a three-storey administrative building at the Moshi garbage depot collapsed when a huge mound of legacy waste gave way following heavy rainfall. At the time of going to press, 11 people had been rescued, while 12 others were still feared trapped. Several hours after the mishap, rescue teams pulled out six people alive from the collapsed structure, three or four of whom were shifted to hospital. Officials said that five employees of the waste-to-energy plant located nearby had also managed to escape through windows immediately after the collapse. No fatalities had been reported till the time of filing this report. Maharashtra disaster management minister Girish Mahajan, who monitored the rescue operation, said that the rescuers had established contact with some of those still trapped. "We have managed to speak to three of them and have provided them with tea and biscuits," he said. "Every effort is being made to rescue everyone safely. The biggest challenge is that the structure is unstable, and we have to ensure that it does not collapse further during the rescue operation. We expect the operation to continue till Thursday morning." The ground-plus-two-storey building houses the administrative office of the waste-to-energy plant. According to PCMC officials, the garbage mound began sliding onto the building at 1.30 pm when 16 or 17 employees were inside the first-floor canteen. Four employees working on the second floor managed to escape immediately and without harm, while those inside the canteen were trapped beneath the collapsed structure. PCMC commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi said that the building, inaugurated only two years ago, was located about 30 metres from the garbage heap and had no known structural defects. "Heavy rainfall over the past two days caused the legacy waste to become unstable and slide onto the building," he said. Chinchwad received more than 500 mm of rainfall in the 72 hours ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday. The intensive rescue operation was carried out by the army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Fire Brigade and police personnel. Elaborating on this, Suryawanshi said, "The fire brigade reached the spot within 10 to 15 minutes of the mishap, after which the NDRF and the army were requisitioned. Around 25 cardiac ambulances, medical teams and disaster response personnel were deployed at the site." Suryawanshi said the ongoing rescue operation on Wednesday was extremely delicate since the building had already collapsed. "We cannot disturb it," he said. "Teams are cutting through the slabs layer by layer to safely reach those trapped. Fresh air is also being pumped inside because there is a risk of poisonous gases emanating from the garbage."...