Carolina Wilga, 26, from Germany, had been missing for 12 days in a remote part of Australia around 200 miles from Perth and police were searching an area near where her van was found
A missing German backpacker has been found alive nearly two weeks after she was last heard from in Western Australia’s remote outback.
The last known sighting of 26-year-old German backpacker Carolina Wilga was on June 29 at a general store in the remote wheat farming town of Beacon, 200 miles northeast of the Western Australia state capital Perth. Her friends and family had not heard from her since. The discovery of her van on Thursday in wilderness in the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, around 60 miles north of Beacon, had focused the search area.
And WA Police on Friday night confirmed the good news that Ms Wilga had been located “safe and well”. Inspector Martin Glynn said Carolina had been found by a member of the public on a track at the edge of the nature reserve where her car was found.
“She’s been located walking on a bushtrack on the edge of the reserve from which she was missing and she’s been recovered by a member of the public – which was fantastic,” he said. “Obviously she would have covered a lot of ground in that time as she tried to make her way out of there.”
She was taken to Beacon and then flown to hospital in Perth for medical attention. “As you can imagine, from the trauma she suffered for the last few days, she’s been obviously through a great deal,” Mr Glynn said.
“She does have some injuries. She’s been ravaged by mosquitoes. She’s obviously been through an amazing journey, a trauma no doubt will be a testimony to demonstrating her bravery in those circumstances out there.”
Mr Glynn said Ms Wilga was still “fragile” but thinks she will have a “remarkable story”. He continued: “You’re always so hopeful with these missing person situations. It’s really quite traumatic because you obviously always go out with the best of hope that you will find the person.
“It’s just a great outcome for everyone involved. She’s obviously coped in some amazing conditions. There’s a very hostile environment out there, both from flora and fauna. It’s a really, really challenging environment to cope in.” Western Australia Police Force Acting Insp Jessica Securo had previously said that the search was continuing where the van had been found.
“The search has resumed in that Karroun Hill area. It will be concentrating around her vehicle and tracks that offshoot that area,” said Ms Securo. “Given the dense area, our aerial support is our best chance of finding her.”
The overnight temperature was 2.6C in the area with no rain. “The terrain is Outback country and there’s large rocky outcrops. Although there’s a number of tracks, you can see how it would be easy to become lost or disorientated in that area if you didn’t know it well,” Ms Securo said.
Carolina’s van, a 1995 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon, was 22 miles from any major tracks, Ms Securo said. The van, which has solar panels and reserves of drinking water, had recovery boards under its rear wheels that are used to give bogged vehicles traction.
Ms Securo previously said she didn’t know whether the van became bogged or broke down. “It appears that as she was driving, she’s likely to have become lost and then the car has suffered mechanical issues,” she said.
“It’s hard to say how much she has taken” with her from the van, Ms Securo continued. “We do know that she was planning to travel throughout regional W.A. and do some exploring through there.”
The reserve where Carolina was missing covers more than 300,000 hectares. She has been traveling in Australia for two years and working at Western Australian mine sites and her mother, Katja Will, who lives in the city of Castrop-Rauxel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, had appealed for public help to find her daughter.
“Carolina is still sorely missed. If anyone has any information, please contact the police. Please keep your eyes open!!!,” Ms Will had said on a post on an Western Australian Police Force social media site.