Ash Dykes and team confirmed safe after Congo contact loss

Ash Dykes and his expedition team were confirmed safe on October 22 after more than 16 hours without contact during their journey by inflatable kayak along the Sangha River in the Congo Basin. A message shared by Dykes’s support team attributed the communications interruption to equipment failures and said the group could send only brief messages when its Garmin device received a signal. The team had raised concern a day earlier, saying it had not heard from Dykes or the crew for more than 16 hours. The October 21 statement did not explain the cause of the silence or report an accident or injury. The subsequent safety confirmation came through a message received on the team’s satellite phone and Garmin device and shared on Dykes’s social media accounts. According to the team, its Starlink connection was out and its power bank had died, preventing it from sending videos or regular updates. It said short messages remained possible when the Garmin had a signal. The team said it would share further information when available, but did not say whether regular communications had been restored. Dykes is travelling from Nola in the Central African Republic toward Mossaka in the...