'Birdie Africa' dies in cruise ship hot tub

WHEN FLAMES devoured a chunk of West Philadelphia like hell on Earth on May 13, 1985, anyone who was looking for a symbol of hope amid the horror saw Michael Moses Ward.

He was just 13 then, and was called Birdie Africa. And he was one of only two people who emerged alive - albeit naked and badly burned - after police dropped a satchel of explosives onto 6221 Osage Ave., a rowhouse that had been the focal point of a nightmarish 12-hour standoff between cops and members of the radical group MOVE.

Eleven people, including five kids, died inside MOVE's rowhouse that day. The flames spread rapidly, destroying dozens of homes, and leaving the city with legal woes that would haunt it for decades.

But Ward endured. He moved away from West Philly, from Osage Avenue and the MOVE fanatics, and tried to live a normal life.

He worked, got married, had kids, got divorced.

And then, suddenly, he was gone.

Ward, 41, died at 10:20 p.m. Friday aboard the cruise ship Carnival Dream in the Caribbean, said Craig Engelson, an investigator with the Brevard County, Fla., Medical Examiner's Office.

Ward was found unconscious in a hot tub and taken to the ship's infirmary, where a doctor declared him dead, Engelson said.

The ship docked, as scheduled, Saturday morning in its home port of Port Canaveral, Fla., and Ward's body was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office. Office pathologists ordered toxicology tests, standard procedure in such sudden deaths. The results are expected in six to eight weeks.

Port Canaveral police are investigating, but a spokeswoman didn't immediately return a request for comment. The FBI, which investigates all deaths at sea, also is investigating.

Ward was among about 4,000 passengers on the cruise around the Caribbean, Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said.

Andino Ward, Michael's father, told the Inquirer yesterday that he was vacationing with his son and other family members on the cruise.

"It's tragic to see his life cut short. I'm saddened by the whole thing," said W. Wilson Goode Sr., who was the city's mayor when the MOVE disaster unfolded.

Ward's mother, Rhonda Africa, died in the MOVE bombing. Ramona Africa was the only other person to emerge alive from MOVE's fiery compound.

In the aftermath of the catastrophe, Ward dropped the name Birdie Africa, moved in with his father - who had split from Ward's mother before she joined MOVE - and grew up in Lansdale, Montgomery County.

He spoke only occasionally in public over the years about his memories of growing up with MOVE, of being malnourished and not knowing how to read or write or use a toothbrush at 13.

In 1991, the city agreed to pay Ward and his father $840,000 up front, plus $1,000 a month for life. Ward served in the Army from 1997 to 2001, rising to the rank of sergeant, and later worked as a truck driver.

He had two children, Rhonda and Michael. Ward declined to be interviewed by the Daily News when the paper ran a 25th anniversary package in 2010 on the MOVE disaster.

Word of his death spread slowly throughout the city, leaving behind a trail of confusion and sadness.

"This really is a tragic end to a tragic life," said William Brown III, who served as the chairman of the commission that investigated the 1985 debacle.

Brown said he remembers interviewing Ward one-on-one during one of the commission's hearings.

"He was a very decent young kid at the time. He described how [the children] tried to come out of the house, and described the automatic-weapon fire, which drove them back inside," he said. "I often wondered how he made out in life . . . it's a shame for him to die so young."

City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell was working as an administrative assistant to her husband, then-City Councilman Lucien Blackwell, when Ward's desperate escape from the flames became immortalized in news photos all those years ago.

"I'm so sorry to hear that his young man died it seems before his time," she said.

"At least he was saved that day and went on to live a normal life, a positive life, a family life," Blackwell said. "I'm glad to know that at least he had some good years."