A FUEL fire erupted again at the scene of the blaze in which more than 250 people died this week while villagers risked their lives scooping fuel still gushing from the vandalised duct. Flames leapt eight metres into the sky and a huge column of smoke billowed into the air above the village of Ovire Court, where the first explosion took place in the early hours of Monday morning. No firefighters were present at the scene, and only three policemen could be seen in the vicinity. The fire appeared to have restarted when fuel still gushing from the mangled pipeline reached trees left smouldering after the original eruption. No one was killed by the new blaze, which erupted as residents of the villages in the area resumed scooping fuel from the pipeline. Living in abject poverty in a region that pumps out 2.03 million barrels of crude oil a day, the residents of Ovire Court say they cannot make a living without risking their lives for fuel. The pipeline, operated by the state-owned fuel marketing company PPMC, exploded into flames along a two-kilometre stretch in southern Nigeria’s Delta State. Hundreds of people were there at the time, illegally scooping up fuel for sale in jerry cans at the roadside.