Gas pumps run dry during strike

Gas stations in Madrid and Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region began running dry amid an indefinite strike by truckers over soaring fuel costs.

Drivers were paying the equivalent of about $7.32 per gallon of diesel.

Antonio Onieva, president of Madrid’s station owners organization, told reporters that 15% of the capital’s outlets had run out of fuel.

Manuel Amado, president of Catalonia’s owners federation, said 40% of Catalonia’s 1,714 stations had sold out.

Truckers also blocked a number of roads.

“If we stop because we haven’t got the money to buy fuel, then the country will stop,” Julio Villascusa, president of the transport association Fenadismer, told Cadena Ser radio.