A rock mass collapsed during excavation work at the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project in Pakistan, flooding a tunnel and part of the under-construction powerhouse and forcing work to stop indefinitely. Video of the incident spread widely online on Tuesday, 10 November, according to a report by The Tribune.

The collapse happened at the Second Bench Connecting Tunnel of the project, known as T-5, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Water from the intake pit flooded the tunnel and the powerhouse that is still under construction, the report says.

The project is a 1,530 MW extension of the Tarbela Dam, one of Pakistan's largest hydropower schemes. It involves Chinese firms, including PowerChina, and is partly financed by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, according to the report.

The Water and Power Development Authority, known as WAPDA, said all workers were safely evacuated and there were no injuries or deaths. One worker was swept away by the water and was rescued, according to Haripur Deputy Commissioner Waseem Ahmed.

What was damaged and what was spared

WAPDA said the main tunnel, the powerhouse structure, the tailrace culvert and the switchyard are undamaged. The intake pit, which had filled with water, has since been drained, according to the authority.

That assessment matters because it separates the damage to the connecting tunnel from the core structures of the project. A high-level inquiry has been ordered into the collapse, the report says.

The T-5 project has a troubled history. An earlier cofferdam collapse at the same project delayed it by at least two years and pushed the cost from PKR 82 billion to PKR 317 billion, according to the report.

Completion is now expected in June 2028 instead of 2026, a date cited by The Tribune with reference to India Today. The fresh collapse raises further questions about the schedule, although no revised date has been announced.

Why the video spread

The video spread because it shows water surging into a major infrastructure site, a dramatic image that travelled quickly across social media and news platforms on Tuesday. The Tribune published its report at 12:21 IST on 10 November, and Daily Jagran had reported the incident late on 9 November at 23:40 IST.

The collapse itself happened on Monday, 9 November. The reporting and the viral spread of the video are the 10 November development, and the date matters for readers following the story as it unfolds.

For Pakistan, the project is significant because hydropower is central to its plans to add electricity capacity and reduce reliance on imported fuel. Delays and cost overruns at Tarbela have therefore drawn attention well beyond the construction site.

No new completion date or cost estimate has been given since the latest collapse. The inquiry ordered by the authorities is expected to establish what failed and what needs to change before work resumes.