A massive whale, some 60 feet (18 meters) long, beached itself on Wednesday morning in New York City, where, despite rescue efforts, it seemed to have little chance of survival.

Experts said the ailing whale was a finback, the second biggest animal species in the world after blue whales, and came ashore in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens.

Police and firefighters immediately began carefully spraying it with water to keep it alive until experts could take over.

But Mendy Garron, a regional specialist for the federal NOAA Fisheries service, told AFP the sea mammal was “really emaciated, not a good body condition at all.”

It was “not moving a lot,” she added, saying that this assessment meant the whale was unlikely to get back to sea.

Garron said rescue efforts were hampered by the incoming tide.