West Virginia Coal Miner Left Note Before Fatal Explosion (VIDEO)

"If anything happens to me, I'll be looking down from heaven at you all. I love you. Take care of my baby. Tell her that daddy loves her, she's beautiful, she's funny. Just take care of my baby girl."

Those were the chilling words in a note from Josh Napper, a West Virginia coal miner who was killed in the Massey mine explosion on Monday.

The note was written to Napper's girlfriend, Jennifer, over Easter weekend -- just days before his fears were realized. It was described to CNN's John Roberts by Pam Napper, Josh's mother.

Pam also lost her brother and nephew in the blast.

Josh's daughter, Jenna Leigh, is 20 months old.

Pam went on to describe the safety problems her son had experienced before at the same mine, as well as a powerful religious experience he had just prior to his death.

WATCH:

Comments

[brahdog]

12:20 AM on 04/11/2010

http://videos.mediaite.com/video/Spooky-Door-Opens-And-Closes-As

[ReedYoung]

04:38 PM on 04/10/2010

Why would anybody, in any profession but the military, even think of not coming home from work alive?

Ken Blankenship is obviously guilty of manslaughter. If this administration does not prosecute I'm leaving, for Canada or Australia, I guess.

[hoocheekoo]

07:31 PM on 04/11/2010

Police officers, firemen, and fisherman also know the risks of their jobs. There are lots of people putting their lives on the line for us every day. Let's not take them for granted.

[ReedYoung]

08:12 PM on 04/11/2010

Good point. I shouldn't have left out those hazardous professions.

[sunshine14]

08:32 PM on 04/09/2010

shame shame on the CEOs of those mines all about $$$$.

[BigHound1]

07:06 PM on 04/09/2010

This was a very sad story.

Obviously, her son felt that this mine was pretty unsafe but was willing to take that chance to support his family.

[probamashop dot com]

05:57 PM on 04/09/2010

So sad!

[cb750]

05:37 PM on 04/09/2010

Just remember. These same coal miners are the "fly over" people you liberals keep calling stupid and hicks.

[Rudy2shoes]

06:00 PM on 04/09/2010

There are over 600 posts in this thread and there are only a few political comments. Most of the remarks are solomn and respectful and many are critical and angry at a system that allows such outrageous things to happen to working class people. Only a few, a very few are insensitive and disrespectful and seem to not be appropriate to atmosphere of disaster.

[Patroclus]

06:02 PM on 04/09/2010

No they are not stupid hicks. It is the likes of you who we regard as stupid misers who would deprive workers such as miners of the kind of regulation and protection a responsible government should provide. It is those of your ilk who place the value of the almighty dollar over the lives of these unfortunate miners. It is those of your kind who would deny the miners the ability to unionize to get some of the protection from exploitation of greedy manipulators. It is the likes of you who have such lack of humanity and responsibility for those who must toil and do honest work, rather than manipulate paper and skim money off of other hard workers, that you do not afford these people the protections any civilized society would offer. Your kind value the Wall Street crooks and CEOs making 750 times the wage of their workers. The policies of you reactionaries are despicable for their rapaciousness and disregard of those who must toil at work that must be done hundreds of feet below the earth rather than in paneled offices in skyscrapers.

[Libertarian09]

06:32 PM on 04/09/2010

The dirtier you get at work the less money you make.

[ReedYoung]

05:07 PM on 04/10/2010

Excellent comment.

"Your kind value the Wall Street crooks and CEOs making 750 times the wage of their workers."

Nobody's best effort is worth 750 times as much as the next person's, and our tax system should reflect it. Some people are more skilled than others, but not by a factor of 750. No way.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-hartmann/the-great-tax-con-job_b_242065.html

[whyworry]

04:27 PM on 04/09/2010

Blankenship should be sued to YELL and back. I know that it does little for the families and the victims; but he shouldn't be allowed to get off “Scott” free. Imagine-- all of those safety violations; he treated those workers "worse" than slaves. He is despicable...blood money was all that he wanted. Many of those people are afraid to speak out. He should pay...

[ena]

06:02 PM on 04/09/2010

Unfortunately suing this miscreant would be the only thing he could relate to, but after he is sued for every last penny he & his pitiful shareholders own. Perhaps he could be tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to as many life terms as his greed has taken in human life.

[whyworry]

06:21 PM on 04/09/2010

I agree; but I'm still so heart broken for the famlies....:(

[ReedYoung]

05:03 PM on 04/10/2010

From what I hear, Blankenship is very likely to be charged with manslaughter, which means, basically, that he engaged in a *pattern* of negligent management knowing full well that he was risking people's *lives*.

[hotbarb2614]

10:35 PM on 04/09/2010

Lets send good old Blankenship to one of his mines that has multiple violations to work for 90 days 12 hours a day and see how he likes it. Better yet send the whole corporation.Watch how fast things will change. God bless all these miners and those that work in the mines. My grandfather worked in the mines for over 60 years in Pennsylania.He lived to be 88. God love them all.

[whyworry]

07:30 PM on 04/10/2010

I agree; my grandfather and godfather were coal miners as well and I TRULY have a lot of respect for coal miners. Blankenship is nothing but a murderer in my opinion; he was a slave driver and just you wait and see if we don't find out the really nasty details about him. I watched this morning when the news came that the 4 coal miners that they had hopes of surviving by reaching a safety chamber...were found dead...I cried along with them...God bless them all..... Fanned.

[mamalisa38]

04:11 PM on 04/09/2010

I hope this makes everyone realize how important unions are. I these men had been members of a union they would have been able to refuse to work in unsafe conditions, still keep their jobs, and would be home with their loved ones.

[whyworry]

04:23 PM on 04/09/2010

mamalisa38; you are so right-- this is truly sad...this letter is heart wrenching and I'm so sadden that words cannot express my sadness. Those men were only trying to feed their families....I'm you # 90 excellent posting.

[ena]

06:07 PM on 04/09/2010

mamalisa38 many do realize the importance of unions but the sad fact of the matter is that the very people that a union could help always vote against their best interests.
Keep voting that GOP party into office folks & you will get more of the same. If they can't union bust they'll send the jobs to asian factories & use slave labor.

[mamalisa38]

04:04 PM on 04/09/2010

I hope this makes everyone realize how important unions are. If they had been "union thugs" they would have been able to refuse unsafe work conditions, still have their jobs, and they would be alive a home with their families today.

[Libertarian09]

06:33 PM on 04/09/2010

But then your electricity bill would go up

[DMSmith]

08:47 PM on 04/09/2010

Great. And there are many ways to supply my electricity other than coal.
And the prices are now very low, really. If it takes more for it to be done safely, then let's pay it.
The problem is, it's more relevant to the company profits than it is to our costs.

[Rudy2shoes]

09:14 PM on 04/09/2010

.......but not if energy was nationalized.

[AdamWright]

05:04 AM on 04/12/2010

The people need to organize on many, many levels. At work, in the neighborhood, around schools....

[GoogleMaster]

03:49 PM on 04/09/2010

Tragic because of the loss of the 25. However, what great news it would be if the 4 are found alive. I don't know why the mining officials are placing such low odds on the survival possibilities of the 4 unless the officials know something that we don't; perhaps the explosion was too large or the men were too far away from the safety rooms.

[jlw56]

04:09 PM on 04/09/2010

there is more pessimism now partly because even if any of the four reached a rescue chamber, they will soon be running out of air. everyone there knows it, and dreads hitting that deadline. it becomes the point where hope really seems impossible.

[GoogleMaster]

04:30 PM on 04/09/2010

I guess I was basing it on the rooms having enough air for 15. With only 4 there, you'd think that there would be enough air for a week. If that's true, then perhaps the officials are looking at it from a "how could anybody survive such an explosion" argument than a "do they have enough life support" one.

[ReedYoung]

05:12 PM on 04/10/2010

The train rails coming out of the mine were twisted.

[KOisGod]

03:40 PM on 04/09/2010

Flying into North Carolina a year ago from Chicago, it was a clear day all along our route. Dotting the landscape below, on the many rivers that cut the terrain into segments, were uncounted coal fired power plants. The burning of this antient carbon, grown under a much younger sun, it was the rich plant life of our planet from millions of year before.

Digging out this black gold so we can burn it, hidden under miles of rock, man is setting a match to our planets historical record. That human beings have given their lives for it's extraction, is testament to our still reliant link to the heavy, material, industrial age.

The lose of life, though tragic, and most likely avoidable, will serve a purpose. To speed up our inventiveness, to free us from King Coal and it's many dangers.

Time to turn to the sun.

[goola1]

03:30 PM on 04/09/2010

"Regulations" arent worth a handfull of spit if they aren't STRICTLY enforced.!! Especially SAFETY "regulations"

[Billar]

03:24 PM on 04/09/2010

I think at the minium, manslaughter charges should be filed against CEO Blankenship. This guy was against
all things concerning safety.

[TheFabOne]

03:23 PM on 04/09/2010

God told him something was going to happen.

But if that had been me, I just wouldn't have gone in to work that day.

God bless these people and their families.

[ZiloRS]

03:41 PM on 04/09/2010

Wouldn't that mean God is responsible for that something happening to him...?

[TheFabOne]

03:57 PM on 04/09/2010

I know. That's why I wouldn't have gone in to work that day.

[CaliGrown78]

03:41 PM on 04/09/2010

I agree, we as humans have stopped listening to our most basic animal instinct. Everytime I don't listen I'm always sorry in the end, unfortunately this man lost his life & that is sad

[AmyRN]

03:19 PM on 04/09/2010

There should be a limit to the number of violations that can just be paid off. If the problems are not fixed, jail time should follow. It's abhorrent that the owners can put the violations into a budget as part of operating costs. These mines should be confiscated, fixed and shares sold to the miners that work them. Call me a socialist, but the people who are dying for the profits should reap some of the profits.

[Rudy2shoes]

03:28 PM on 04/09/2010

True enough Amy, but people really don't have to die. Coal can be extracted more safely but with reduced profits. All energy should be nationalized. We should not allow private-for-profit ownership of our nation's energy resources. This disaster is but one reason why.

[Libertarian09]

06:38 PM on 04/09/2010

Doesn't sound like capitalism to me. Even the "socialists" up in Canada couldn't wrest natural resources away from entrenched corporate interests. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for it to happen in America