Residents of Dwarf Island and other settlements along the Volta River in the Afram Plains are beseeching President J.E.A. Mills and the government to provide them with a pontoon to ease their traveling risks. They say the lack of a pontoon to provide them a safer means of transport has left them with no alternative than traditional canoes (some motored) for regular but perilous journeys many of which have ended in deaths. In messages to former President Jerry John Rawlings to plead with the government on behalf of the people, a Catholic Priest, Fr. Paul Dogbe says Monday’s heavy rainstorm may have claimed some lives on the river, in addition to the deaths of some 17 people who perished between Kpatsakorpe and Torgadzi in the Dwarf Island three weeks ago. Fr. Dogbe, stationed at Adiembra also in the Plains, told Myjoyonline.com that some Christian Mothers from the church who were returning from an outreach programme saw a capsized boat floating on the river. “They saw no one in or around it and our fear is that whoever was in it may have perished.” The Christian Mothers, he said narrowly, narrowly escaped drowning themselves as the stormed nearly whipped their canoe away. They took refuge at a peninsula.