The inquiry into the Pike River disaster has heard that police believed men might have survived the initial blast at the mine.
The second phase of a Royal Commission is being held in Greymouth into the deaths of 29 men at the West Coast coal mine.
The initial blast occurred on 19 November 2010 and the deaths of the men were deemed inevitable after a second, much bigger explosion, five days later.
Assistant Commissioner Grant Nicholls has told the inquiry that other police officers and mine company managers thought men could be huddled around an air pocket after the first blast, waiting to be rescued.
He said that, since two men definitely made it to the surface, he had no reason not to believe that others might have survived too.
Assistant Commissioner Nicholls said the risks were too great for a rescue operation to be launched.
