The missing German backpacker who was feared lost in the Australian outback for 12 days has been found.
Carolina Wilga, 26, vanished without a trace in Western Australia on June 29.
She was last seen when she stopped at a convenience store in Beacon in the remote WA Wheatbelt region, after filling her van up with fuel the previous day 200km away in Toodyay.
On Friday evening, WA Police confirmed the young woman had been found with minor injuries and ‘ravaged by mosquitoes’ after the ‘traumatic’ ordeal.
‘She’s obviously coped in some amazing conditions. There’s very hostile environment out there,’ a police spokesperson told reporters.
She has been airlifted to hospital where she will be treated after a member of the public found her walking along a bushtrack on the edge of the reserve where she went missing.
On Thursday, her bogged and abandoned van was discovered in remote Karroun Hill bushland, 60km from Beacon, after police said it suffered a ‘mechanical issue’ but there was no sign or trace of Ms Wilga.
A huge air and land search was mounted in the rugged nature reserve amid fears she walked off to find help and may have been injured or disorientated.
The increasingly desperate search for Carolina Wilga, 26, (pictured) took a disturbing turn on Friday after she vanished without a trace in Western Australia on June 29
Childhood friend Denise Kullick, 27, has revealed the torment of being unable to help from her German hometown of Castrop-Rauxel, near Dortmund
The alarm was officially raised on July 4, but Carolina’s Mitsubishi Delica van was only found in the remote location, 35km from the nearest main track, on Thursday
On Friday, her devastated childhood friend Denise Kullick, 27, revealed the torment of being unable to help from her German hometown of Castrop-Rauxel, near Dortmund.
‘It’s a horrible feeling,’ Ms Kullick said. ‘Her family is like my family.
‘You see this kind of thing on news or documentaries, and now we’re the ones sitting here, hoping she comes home.’
Ms Kullick said her friend’s parents have stayed in constant contact with police but have declined to speak publicly.
She added: ‘The situation is too tense, and their worry and fears for their daughter are too great.’
Ms Wilga, known as ‘Lina’ by friends, had spent the past two years backpacking around Australia and was planning to start work as a yoga teacher.
According to Ms Kullick, Ms Wilga was intending to take a mate with her on her fateful final trip into the outback, but they pulled out at the last moment.
‘She was actually supposed to go with a friend she met in Australia,’ Denise told German website, Ruhr Nachrichten, speaking on behalf of Ms Wilga’s family.
On Thursday, her bogged and abandoned van was discovered in remote Karroun Hill bushland, 60km from Beacon, after police said it suffered a ‘mechanical issue’
She was last seen when she stopped at a convenience store in Beacon in the remote WA Wheatbelt region
She had previously filled her van up with fuel the day before, 200km away in Toodyay
‘But Lina ended up leaving on her own.’
The Australian friend alerted authorities when Ms Wilga failed to respond to messages which was ‘completely out of character,’ said Ms Kullick.
‘Someone always knew where Lina was,’ she said. ‘Her friend called the police after not hearing from her for some time.’
The alarm was officially raised on July 4, but Carolina’s Mitsubishi Delica van was only found in the remote location, 35km from the nearest main track, on Thursday.
WA Police Acting Inspector Jessica Securo said Ms Wilga is believed to have become lost and walked away from her vehicle after it broke down.
‘Our information to date is she’s likely to have become lost in that area, and has potentially walked away from her vehicle,’ Acting Inspector Securo said on Friday.
‘The terrain – it’s outback country and there’s large rocky outcrops, so 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.’
Police have been investigating whether Ms Wilga took anything with her from the van that might offer clues to her whereabouts.
Caroline Wilga (pictured) stopped at a remote post office and general store before vanishing
Police have now launched a massive air and land search in Karroun Hill for the missing woman
Another friend, Demi de Lange, who worked with Ms Wilga in WA last year, remembered her as a ‘lovely girl, very friendly and very bubbly.’
‘I’m absolutely saddened by the news,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. ‘We have a lot of backpackers travelling around her and you would think it’s a safe place.
‘I just hope for a safe return.’
Ms Kullick said that despite everything, she is refusing to give up hope and believes her friend is tougher than most.
‘You always try to stay positive,’ she said. ‘Maybe Lina’s car broke down in a dead zone with no reception.’
The pair have known each other since childhood, first meeting as classmates at Erich Kästner Elementary School in Habinghorst and have been best friends ever since.
‘Lina even postponed her flight to Australia just so she could be at my wedding,’ she added.
The pair last saw each other nearly two years ago and were last in contact after her birthday in April, when Ms Wilga joked that her wellwishes were late because of the time difference.
Police are investigating whether Ms Wilga took anything with her from the van that might offer clues to her whereabouts
Police at the scene of her last sighting in Beacon in the WA Wheatbelt region
She is now considering flying to Australia to help in the search.
‘My husband already said we should just fly down there and look ourselves. What could we possibly do from Castrop-Rauxel?’ she said.
‘None of us is sleeping much any more.’
Ms Kullick said she reads every news update and Facebook post in the hope it will bring good news.
‘I’ve even messaged people directly who claimed in the comments that they had seen her,’ she said.
