Police in Australia are ramping up the search for a German backpacker who has been missing in the outback for more than a week.
Carolina Wilga, 26, was last seen at a general store in Beacon, a small town around 200 miles from Perth, at about midday on June 29.
Her friends and family have not heard from her since.
She has been travelling in Australia for two years and working at Western Australian mine sites.
Carolina’s van was found abandoned in wilderness in the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, which is around 60 miles north of Beacon.
Western Australia Police Force Acting Inspector Jessica Securo said officers believe she likely set off on foot after breaking down.
The 1995 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon, which has solar panels and reserves of drinking water, was just over 20 miles from any major track.
Ms Securo told Australian Broadcasting Corp: ‘It appears that as she was driving, she’s likely to have become lost and then the car has suffered mechanical issues.
‘It’s hard to say how much she has taken [with her from the van].
‘We do know that she was planning to travel throughout regional WA and do some exploring through there.’
She added: ‘The terrain is Outback country and there’s large rocky outcrops.
‘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.’
Western Australian Premier Roger Cook said ‘police are throwing a lot of resources’ at the search.
‘They’ve moved swiftly now, and the search is ongoing and is resource-intensive. We want to bring Carolina home, and the police are doing everything they can,’ he told reporters.
While the discovery of her van gives them a place to focus that search on, the reserve where Carolina is thought to be lost on covers more than 740,000 acres.
Ms Securo said aircraft are likely to be their ‘our best chance of finding her’.
Detective Senior Sergeant Katharine Venn said the search for Carolina was ‘vast’, with authorities in all states and territories notified.
‘She could be off grid, not have access to her phone, and she certainly had capacity in the vehicle she was travelling in to be self-sufficient for quite some time,’ Sergeant Venn said.
‘The family are understandably distraught, very worried, as any of us would be with a young family member on the other side of the world missing in such unusual circumstance.’
Carolina’s mum, Katja Will, who lives in the city of Castrop-Rauxel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has appealed for public help to find her daughter.
‘Carolina is still sorely missed. If anyone has any information, please contact the police. Please keep your eyes open!!!’ she said on a post on an Western Australian Police Force social media site.
She is described as having a slim build, long, frizzy-curly, dark blonde hair, brown eyes and several tattoos. She has several tattoos, including one which depicts symbols on her left arm.
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