Hundreds of fishermen from Rameswaram, who go out into the sea in country boats, staged a protest demanding a full- fledged search operation to find out the eight fishermen who have been missing after a boat capsize off the coast of Mallipattinam on Wednesday. The fishermen started assembling in front of the taluk office in Rameswaram in the evening as soon as the news of drowning came out. Joint secretary of Rameswaram Country Boat Fishermen Association, N Saravanan said that the accident happened when ten men from Nadarajapuram, about three kilometres from Rameswaram, had gone to purchase a new boat in Cuddalore. While, two of the men were rescued by local fishermen in Mallipattinam, they had been informed by the local fishermen that no search operations had been initiated by the authorities till late in the evening. We are yet to identify their names, but it is the duty of the fisheries department to put in all their efforts to rescue the fishermen, who may still be alive. They may be lost at sea, or clinging on to something. The authorities should have launched a search as soon as they heard of the accident, he said. The fishermen said that they would continue their protest till Ramanathapuram district collector K Veera Raghava Rao assured them of the safety of their fellow fishermen. They cannot just be declared dead without conducting a search with boats and helicopters, they added.