Missing Backpacker Found After 12 Days in Aussie Outback

26-year-old woman's van had apparently become stuck in mud last month
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 11, 2025 9:21 AM CDT
German Tourist Found Alive in Outback After 12 Days
Police officers gather in Beacon, Western Australia, Friday, July 11, 2025, as they prepare to search for missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga.   (ABC News via AP)

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 at a general store in the tiny wheat farming town of Beacon, 200 miles northeast of the Western Australia state capital Perth, reports the AP. 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."

The reserve where Wilga was lost covers more than 740,000 acres. The Thursday-Friday overnight temperature was about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. 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," Glynn told reporters before she 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.

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