Viral video falsely claims man damaged Tarbela Dam; footage is from Kohistan in August 2026
The viral video of Tarbela dam is false, actually belongs to KP. PHOTO: SCREEN GRAB
Several people were sharing a clip on social media platforms X and Facebook since November 9, 2026, allegedly showing the crumbling state of Tarbela Dam with a man kicking and damaging its structure. However, the video is from August 2026 and was filmed in Kohistan.
A rock mass collapsed at the Tarbela Dam 5th Extension Project (T-5) construction site on November 9, 2026, causing water to surge into nearby work areas.
An emergency was declared following the collapse; construction work was suspended and workers were directed to move to safer areas. However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.
How it starting
On Nov 9, an Afghan propaganda account, based on its past posts, shared a video on X, allegedly showing a man standing at the edge of the Tarbela Dam’s wall and kicking it, highlighting the poor condition.
The caption of the post read, “Pakistan Army Corruption | Tarbela Dam T-5. The protective structure of the dam breaks with a kick, resulting in today’s incident. T-4 Project. Former WAPDA Chairman (R) Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain faced an NAB case over a financial loss of $753.7 million approximately PKR 100 billion. Corruption runs deep among Pakistan’s top generals.”
The video gained 186,797 views.
The same video was reposted a few hours later by TV anchor and media personality Moeed Pirzada with the following caption, “Wow! This young man kicked open the back door of a Wapda vehicle—now he must be arrested and punished!”
His post garnered a total of 91,369 views.
Similarly, other accounts also shared the same video in a similar context on X and Facebook, here, here, and here.
Methodology
A fact-check was initiated to verify the viral claim due to its high virality and keen public interest surrounding the safety and structural integrity of the Tarbela Dam.
A keyword search was conducted to verify whether any credible media outlets in Pakistan had recently reported on a viral video of a man kicking the walls of the Tarbela Dam and breaking them easily, but it yielded no results.
A reverse image search was conducted to trace the source of the viral video, which yielded the same visual shared by Pakistan Connect, a digital news outlet, dated August 3, 2026.
The caption of the clip read: “The KP government claims widespread development across the province, but the situation on the ground tells a different story. A video from Kohistan exposes the current condition of a road and its safety walls, raising serious concerns about the quality of construction.”
A further keyword search yeilded the same video shared on Facebook on August 20, 2026, by Nazar Buneri, a former provincial social media member of the Awami National Party.
The video’s caption read: “The standard of development work carried out by the Tabdeeli government in Kohistan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”
As per the description, the clip is from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan district.
Fact-check status: False
The claim that a viral video shows a man kicking and damaging Tarbela Dam is false.
The video is from August 2026 and was filmed in Kohistan.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan— a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
