When it is finished, it will be the world's largest and most modern lignite-fired power plant in the world. But on Thursday evening, the construction site in Grevenbroich near Dusseldorf in western Germany was the scene of tragedy.

Steel beams weighing some 100 tons detached from the scaffolding holding up a gigantic wall at the factory. The beams plummeted 100 meters to the ground, taking workers with them. At least five were killed. Six additional workers were seriously injured.

On Friday morning, workers were still trying to recover two bodies and were looking for an additional employee who is missing. Energy company RWE, which is building the €2.2 billion ($3.2 billion) power plant, said that all work on the factory would cease until the cause of the accident can be pinpointed.

Until Thursday, the plant had been publicized by RWE as an example for modern coal-generated power. Covering 52 hectares (128 acres), the gigantic plant is being built by a massive workforce of 4,000 laborers.

Set to go online at the end of 2009, the plant is to help Germany make up for the scheduled closures of its nuclear power plants. For now, though, it is unclear when construction might be resumed.