Melbourne, Australia — German tourist Carolina Wilga was found alive in Australia’s remote Outback on Friday, 12 days after she went missing and a day after her abandoned van was discovered, police said.
The last known sighting of the 26-year-old backpacker, and the last day family and friends heard from her, was June 29. She was seen in a general store in the wheat farming town of Beacon, 200 miles northeast of the Western Australia state capital Perth. Beacon had a population of 123 during the 2021 census.
A member of the public found Wilga wandering on a forest trail late Friday, Western Australia Police Force Insp. Martin Glynn said. She was in a “fragile” state but had no serious injuries and was flown to a hospital in Perth for treatment, Glynn told reporters.
“I think once we do hear her story, it will be a remarkable story,” Glynn said, adding it was a “great result” for the backpacker’s family and those involved in the search.
“You know, she’s obviously coped in some amazing conditions,” he said. “There’s a very hostile environment out there, both from flora and fauna. It’s a really, really challenging environment to cope in.”
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The reserve where Wilga was lost covers more than 740,000 acres. The Thursday-Friday overnight temperature was 36.7 Fahrenheit, with no rain in the area.
The crew of a police helicopter spotted her van Thursday in wilderness in the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, 22 miles north of Beacon, Glynn said.
“Very difficult country. Huge area. So, it’s a miracle they’ve actually spotted the car, to be honest,” Glynn told reporters before Wilga was found.
Ground searchers on Friday scoured a heavily wooded radius of 1,000 feet beyond the van. Police assume Wilga’s van, a 1995 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon, became stuck in mud on the day she left Beacon, Glynn said. The van, which has solar panels and reserves of drinking water, had recovery boards under its rear wheels that are used to give vehicles traction when they are stuck.
Police believed Wilga became lost and was not the victim of crime.
She was found just a day after officials and local media said an Australian surfer, who had been feared lost at sea, was rescued after spending a night on an uninhabited island miles from where they had walked into the water. The man, identified by local media Darcy Deefholts, 19, spent the night on North Solitary Island, which sits about seven miles from the coast, according to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
