A 21-foot killer whale weighing over 6,000 pounds died after it washed up on a Florida beach.

The event has been described as “extremely rare” by wildlife officials as this is reportedly the first-ever case of an orca becoming stranded in Florida, or anywhere on the US south-eastern coast.

Erin Fougeres, the Marine Mammal Stranding Program administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southeast Region, told local media: “This is the first killer whale stranding in the Southeast US, so there’s a lot of interest, obviously, in trying to sample it extensively and try to determine why it might have been sick and why it stranded.”

Although it was reportedly still alive when it reached the shore, it died by the time rescuers arrived to help.

Marine biologists with SeaWorld and officials with MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife were also assisting with the orca’s necropsy after it died the morning of Wednesday, 11th January.

The beach had been temporarily closed to the public but since has been reopened after the whale was removed.

Biologists are currently examining the case and are set firm on learning why it died, claiming there were no visible injuries or anything that would point to something similar.