![\"Carolina](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/365.jpg\")
Caroline Wilga survived 11 nights in the WA wilderness with minimal food and water. Photograph: WA police<\/p>\nCarolina Wilga spent 11 freezing nights lost in the Western Australian outback, convinced she would never be found.<\/p>\n
By \u201csheer luck\u201d the confused and disoriented German backpacker came across a road, where she flagged down a woman in a passing car on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
An \u201cexhausted, dehydrated and hungry\u201d Wilga has spoken to her family, had a good night\u2019s sleep, a shower and some food, WA police Acting Det Insp Jessica Securo said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best result we could have hoped for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re incredibly grateful that she\u2019s been found safe, and obviously this is a huge relief for her family and all of her loved ones.<\/p>\n
Caroline Wilga survived 11 nights in the WA wilderness with minimal food and water. Photograph: WA police<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never gave up hope that Carolina would be found safe and well \u2026 the support of our WA community is our greatest asset, particularly in a state as vast as ours.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sheer luck. The area out there is mixed terrain. It can be quite dangerous if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing or where you\u2019re going, and it\u2019s very easy to get lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police confirmed<\/a> on Friday night that Wilga, 26, had been found \u201csafe and well\u201d. She had been \u201cravaged\u201d by mosquitoes, was dehydrated, exhausted, starving and had minor injuries including cuts and bruises, and was airlifted to Fiona Stanley hospital in Perth.<\/p>\n The temperature in the area had dropped down to 0C at night and there was heavy rain.<\/p>\n On 29 June, Wilga had visited a shop in Beacon, a small town about 300km north-east of Perth in WA. Her family and friends had not heard from her since and raised the alarm.<\/p>\n Police and volunteers started searching the remote wheatbelt area and beyond.<\/p>\n Wilga\u2019s Mitsubishi van was found bogged and abandoned in Karroun Hill, about 150km from Beacon, on Thursday. Securo said Wilga had \u201csomewhat lost control of the vehicle\u201d, which had then become \u201cmechanically unsound and bogged\u201d.<\/p>\n She had stayed with the car for just a day before panicking and striking out to find help, Securo said, and had used the sun\u2019s position to head west. She had minimal food and water with her, and drank water from rain and puddles to survive.<\/p>\n At one point, she sought shelter in a cave.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is still in disbelief that she was able to survive,\u201d Securo said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn her mind, she had convinced herself that she was not going to be located \u2026 I\u2019m sure she got to a point where she thought no one was coming.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilga was found about 24km from her car.<\/p>\n Securo said Wilga was \u201cvery traumatised\u201d and \u201cjust overwhelmed\u201d to have been found, and that the woman who found her on the edge of Maroubra Road in Bimbijy was \u201cquite overwhelmed herself\u201d.<\/p>\n Carolina Wilga\u2019s van was found abandoned in Karroun Hill nature reserve. Photograph: ABC<\/p>\n \u201cWe are extremely thankful for her stopping and giving Carolina assistance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Wilga had planned to explore WA then head north, Securo said, and still plans to travel Australia, with the east coast \u201con her bucket list\u201d.<\/p>\n Wilga\u2019s rescuer described it as a \u201cmiracle\u201d that she survived, according to the ABC<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tania, a local farming resident who did not want her surname used, said Wilga was \u201con the side of the road waving her hands\u201d and she immediately knew who it was.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, there is nobody who comes up my way walking around,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was in a fragile state, but she was well. Thin, but well. She\u2019d been bitten by a lot of midgies. She said it was very, very cold.\u201d<\/p>\n Tania said Wilga had no shoes on, and that it could have been days before someone else drove down that road. \u201cMiracle is a word that gets bandied about a lot, but to survive 12 days and cross-country \u2013 she went cross country to come to my road,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n