SYDNEY: German backpacker Carolina Wilga drank water from puddles and sheltered in a cave before escaping an 11-night ordeal in the Australian bush, police said Saturday.
The 26-year-old walked “confused and disorientated” 24 kilometers away from her van after it got stuck in remote bushland in Western Australia. The backpacker had lost hope of being rescued, police said.
But on Friday, she managed to flag down a woman who drove her to police in the agricultural community of Beacon, northeast of Perth. Wilga was airlifted to a Perth hospital for treatment.
“She spent 11 nights exposed to the elements and survived by consuming the minimal food supplies she had in her possession, and drinking water from rain and puddles,” Western Australia police said in a statement.
“She sought shelter at night where possible, including in a cave.”
Wilga was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, sunburn, “extensive insect bites,” and an injured foot, police said.
The driver who spotted her, Tania Henley, told public broadcaster ABC that she saw Wilga waving her hands by the side of the road.
She appeared to be in a “fragile state,” bitten by midges and suffering from the cold.
“Everything in this bush is very prickly. I just can’t believe that she survived. She had no shoes on, she’d wrapped her foot up.”
The rescue was down to “sheer luck,” Western Australia police acting inspector Jessica Securo told a news conference in Perth after speaking to Wilga.
“She is still in disbelief that she was able to survive. In her mind, she had convinced herself that she was not going to be located,” said Securo.
“She basically looked at the direction of the sun and tried to head west, thinking that that would be her best bet of coming across someone or a road.”
Wilga told police she was “very confused and disorientated.”
Until her rescue, she had been last seen on June 29 arriving in the van at a general store in Beacon.
A police search spotted the van on Thursday, abandoned in dense bushland north of Beacon with plastic orange traction tracks placed beneath the rear wheels.
“It appears that she has somewhat lost control of the vehicle, and then it’s become mechanically unsound, and bogged,” Securo said.
She stayed with the van for one day before leaving the vehicle through “panic,” hoping to find help.
Wilga was “overwhelmed” to have found someone to help her.
“She had minimal food and minimal water. From speaking to her, she has said she could have planned better.”
The terrain can be “quite dangerous,” Securo added.
Wilga remained in hospital and was not expected to be released on Saturday, still needing “emotional support” and treatment for some injuries.
“She’s had a good night’s sleep. She’s had a shower. We’ve got her some food, which was a massive relief for her. So she’s just taking it one day at a time at the moment.”
The backpacker is now in “frequent communication” with her family who are relieved and thankful the Western Australian community came together to “throw every resource at locating their daughter,” Securo said.
The family had no plans at this stage to travel to Australia.
Police say Wilga had spent two years backpacking around the country, and was working at mine sites in Western Australia while staying mostly at hostels.
“Carolina has told me that she loves Australia. She still has so much travel to do here. She hasn’t made it over to the east coast yet, so that’s still on her bucket list,” said Securo.
