During his nearly seven weeks incommunicado, his wife continued to hold out hope he was alive and that it was equipment failure for his lack of contact.

She kept posting entries on their blog nearly every day, speculating about his position and how the weather conditions were affecting his voyage on the canoe, nicknamed “Vitez,” which means “valiant” in Hungarian.

Mr Rakonczay admitted that his family were going through tough times but was heartened by the faith they showed during the long period of silence.