* Death toll of tremor in Polish copper mine rises to eight

* Mine owned by state-run copper producer KGHM (Adds information about the final outcome of tremor)

By Wojciech Zurawski and Marcin Goclowski

WARSAW, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The final death toll of an earth tremor causing rockfalls deep underground in Europe's largest copper mine in southwestern Poland rose to eight miners, the mine's operator KGHM said on Wednesday. The tremor hit the Rudna copper mine at 2009 GMT on Tuesday, KGHM said, causing extensive damage, but the mine remained mostly open. Sections of tunnels hundreds of metres below the surface were blocked by rocks, preventing access to the missing miners, company officials said. Thus, the outcome of this tragic tremor is eight casualties," state-run news agency PAP quoted the Rudna mine director Pawel Markowski as saying. Tremors often occur in underground mines as removing ore and digging tunnels from beneath the surface weakens the structure of the surrounding rocks, but most are harmless. Only the part of the mine where the accident took place will be halted,” a KGHM spokeswoman said.
An earth tremor in Europe's largest copper mine in southwestern Poland causes eight deaths.