Westman Islands - The Hollywood killer whale Keiko arrived safely in Iceland on schedule yesterday after a four-year campaign to release the five-tonne celebrity back into his native Icelandic waters.
A crowd of 200 journalists and 300 cheering spectators were waiting at an airport on Heimaey Island in Iceland's Westman cluster as a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster put down after a nine-hour non-stop flight from Newport, Oregon.
The plane's undercarriage suffered slight damage on landing, delaying unloading plans, but the VIP passenger - star of the Free Willy movies - was unharmed.