A backpacker survived nearly two weeks lost in Western Australia’s outback by drinking from puddles and sleeping in a cave, police have said.

Carolina Wilga, 26, from Germany, was rescued on Friday. She had suffered from exhaustion, dehydration, “extensive insect bites” and an injured foot, according to police.

Officers said she walked 24km (15 miles) away from her van in a “confused and disorientated” state after it became stuck in remote bushland.

Ms Wilga had convinced herself she was not going to be found, police said, adding that the backpacker’s family was relieved and thankful.

“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,” a Western Australia police statement said.

The rescue was down to “sheer luck”, acting police inspector Jessica Securo said in a news conference.

Ms Wilga was spotted by a driver and airlifted to a hospital in Perth.

Tania Henley, the driver, told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC that she saw Ms Wilga waving her hands by the side of the road, and she appeared to be in a “fragile state”.

“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,” Ms Henley said.

Before her rescue, Ms Wilga was last seen at a general store in the town of Beacon, Western Australia, in her van on 29 June.

Police found her abandoned van on Thursday in dense bushland north of Beacon.

Securo said it appeared Ms Wilga had lost control of the vehicle, which became mechanically unsound and bogged.

Ms Wilga has had a “good night’s sleep” in hospital and is “just taking it one day at a time”, Securo said.