Carolina Wilga: Police find van of German woman missing in Australia

Carolina Wilga has been missing for days. Now there's a lead: Her van was abandoned in the Australian wheatbelt.

More than ten days after a German backpacker disappeared in Western Australia, police have found the woman's abandoned car. The vehicle, driven by 26-year-old Carolina Wilga, was discovered near Karroun Hill, about 300 kilometers northeast of Perth, the newspaper "The West Australian" reported, citing police. It was believed to have mechanical problems.

However, Wilga herself was not at the scene. "The search for her is ongoing, and additional forces are being deployed to the area," a police spokeswoman said.

Concern for the German woman had recently grown. Police had expanded the search to other parts of the country. Authorities in all states and territories of the country had been informed of the young woman's disappearance, emphasized Police Chief Inspector Katharine Venn. Every piece of information and every lead regarding her current whereabouts was being investigated. Tips had been received from various towns in Western Australia, including Albany and Margaret River.

Wilga was last seen on June 29 in the town of Beacon, about 330 kilometers northeast of Perth. Beacon—like Karroun Hill, where her van was found—is located in Australia's Wheatbelt, a sparsely populated region known for its grain production. Since then, her trail has been lost. Her phone is switched off, although she reportedly previously contacted her family in Germany regularly.

Police launched a search appeal on social media. According to Venn, officers searched the "inhospitable, rocky terrain" around Beacon using helicopters and aircraft, among other means. Security camera footage was also released as part of the investigation, showing the German woman at a gas station in Toodyay on June 28 and in front of a store in Beacon the following day.

According to police, Wilga has been traveling around Australia in a van for two years, mostly sleeping in hostels. She is said to have financed the trip, among other things, by working in mines.

Her mother, who according to Facebook is from Castrop-Rauxel in North Rhine-Westphalia, called on the public for help in the search in a comment under the police appeal: "Carolina is still sorely missed. If anyone has any information, please contact the police. Please keep your eyes open!"

The family is understandably distraught and very worried, "as any of us are when a young family member goes missing on the other side of the world," said Police Commissioner Venn. "Someone out there must have important information that can help the police return Carolina to her family and friends."

The criminal investigation department and homicide investigators have also been involved in the search. "This is an investigation into a missing person. There is no evidence that third parties are involved in her disappearance," Venn said. But investigations are being conducted in all directions.

She added that the missing person could also be lost in the Outback. "We are taking this matter very seriously, but it's also possible that Carolina is in remote areas of Western Australia, without network service and without access to her phone."