Extra resources have been sent to WA’s Wheatbelt after the van driven by a missing German backpacker at the centre of a nation-wide search was found abandoned on Thursday afternoon.

Carolina Wilga’s 1995 Mitsubishi Delica was tracked down just after 1pm in Karroun Hill, an area about 50km northeast of where the 26-year-old was last seen in Beacon 11 days ago.

Wilga is believed to have ditched the vehicle when it suffered mechanical troubles.

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“Carolina Wilga was not at the scene. The search to locate her is continuing, with additional resources being deployed to the area,” WA Police said.

Karroun Hill is a 300,000-hectare nature reserve. The temperature in nearby Dalwallinu dropped to 2.6C overnight.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Van driven by missing backpacker found abandoned in remote patch of WA.

The discovery comes after WA Police released CCTV vision of Wilga visiting the general store in Beacon — a remote Wheatbelt town more than 300km northeast of Perth — just after midday on Sunday, June 29.

She could be seen walking up to the doors, but the shop was shut.

“Carolina departed that area about five minutes later and has not been seen or heard from since,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Katharine Venn, from WA’s Homicide Squad.

Wilga had travelled solo through Toodyay a day earlier — with police also releasing vision of her stopping at a service station at about 4.30pm, smiling as she paid with her phone — and Dowerin.

Her phone is no longer switched on.

“We hope this (new vision) will cause a member of the public to recognise Carolina as somebody they’ve seen or jog their memory and provide us with something that may be relevant in our search for her,” Venn said.

Friends and associates told police she was open to travel throughout regional and remote WA, and may have planned to travel interstate to the east coast.

“Our search area is therefore vast,” Venn said, adding “all jurisdictions are aware” of her disappearance.

“There are alerts on her vehicle and we are considering information from any state or territory in terms of a sighting or information related to her whereabouts.”

Wilga’s friend Denise Kullick told German media the backpacker had planned to travel with a pal to a seaside location to become a yoga teacher — but ended up setting off alone.

“(Wilga’s) friend then alerted the police after she hadn’t responded to her messages for a while,” Kullick told Ruhr Nachrichten, a publication from Wilga’s home of Castrop-Rauxel, near Dortmund in Germany.

Kullick said loved ones are “hoping that she’ll come home again”.

“You always try to stay positive,” she said.

Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said it is aware of the search.

“Our Consulate General in Sydney has contacted the local authorities directly and is liaising with them,” a spokesperson told www.20304050.best.

Given the 11 days since her last contact, police said it was possible she may have made it “a long way” from Beacon with a functioning car.

“We are also following up with leads across regional WA and across towns including Albany, Esperance, Margaret River,” Venn said before the van was found.

“Every piece of info we’re receiving is being treated seriously and followed up on.”

Aerial assets including helicopters and planes had taken to the sky over the immediate search area in Beacon, and locals said they hoped she is found soon.

Police said Wilga’s distinctive black and silver Mitsubishi van made it possible for her to live off grid for some time.

“(Her disappearance) is unexplained behaviour ... and we are taking it very seriously,” Venn said.

“But it is also possible that Carolina could be travelling in remote WA.

“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.”

Police are in regular contact with Wilga’s family in Germany and her relatives are “understandably distraught, very worried”.

Wilga has been backpacking around Australia for the past two years, working most recently at regional mine sites in WA.

She had also been staying at backpackers and hostels during her time in Perth.

Police said the search is being treated as a missing persons investigation and there is no signs of foul play.

“There is no indication that there’s any third party involvement in her disappearance but our minds are open to any line of inquiry or any information that people bring forward to us,” Venn said.

The detective senior sergeant said it was “not uncommon” for the homicide squad to join cases like this, as it had this time.

“We basically have the resources and the capacity to provide an entire dedicated investigative team to this one investigation,” she said.

Wilga has brown eyes, a slim build and several tattoos “including one which depicts symbols on her left arm”.

“Someone out there must have some vital information which can assist WA Police in bringing Carolina back to her family and friends,” Venn said.

“We encourage anyone with any information to come forward and contact police.”

Anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact Crime Stoppers.