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Friends of missing rugby fan Ben Thompson have taken to the streets of Cardiff in a desperate bid for clues about his disappearance.

Around 30 volunteers, including Ben’s colleagues from the Milford Haven gas plant where he works, and others from Cardiff, kicked off a leaflet and poster campaign as the search entered its fifth day.

Meeting at the Sand Martin pub on Leckwith Road, near where the 34-year-old fitness enthusiast was last seen, the volunteers were briefed by Ben’s brother-in-law Phil Coles.

They then split into groups to hand out flyers in Cardiff city centre, the Leckwith area and outlying villages - including Dinas Powys and Wenvoe - that lie in the direction in which Ben was believed to be heading when he was last seen at 7.17pm on Saturday.

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One of the volunteers was Ben’s friend and colleague Stephen Miller, 44, who drove to Cardiff from Haverfordwest on Thursday morning with a group of 10 of his colleagues from Milford Haven gas plant South Hook LNG.

He said workers at the plant from across different departments were shuttling back and forth from Haverfordwest in shifts to give their time to the search for their friend.

“It’s horrible being over there and not being able to do anything, so at least now we can feel busy and feel like we are helping in some way,” he said.

“We all know each other so well. We work, socialise and drink together – I probably spend more time with them than my family.

“Out there it’s a very close-knit community. Our children all go to the same schools.

“My wife works for the company too and my eight-year-old daughter wanted to come down with me today to help.

“She said, ‘I can fit into the bits you can’t reach daddy’.

“I think everybody here is just glad to have something to do.”

Calling for people in Cardiff to join the search, he said: “So far everyone we have spoken to knows about it and they have all said they will help spread the word.

“We’ve had an incredible reaction from people of all ages, and it means an awful lot to us.

“When you walk down the street, you feel like grabbing people and saying, ‘help us, please’.

“If everyone here in Cardiff went out into their garden and helped in the search it would mean so much.

“If you have been out walking the dog and you’ve seen anything – it might just look like a rag or a discarded item of clothing – just tell someone, even if you think it’s nothing, as it might turn out to be the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

“I think 100,000 pairs of eyes and 100,000 pairs of feet are much better and I know people want to help.”

Police divers and specialist search teams have been continuing their search of the River Ely and surrounding woodland near Leckwith.

On Wednesday police retrieved new images, which were not given out to media, showing the fitness enthusiast and keen cyclist walking down a lane at the end of Lawrenny Avenue towards wasteland.

Those images were taken minutes after Ben was shown on CCTV crossing Leckwith Road into Lawrenny Avenue at 7.17pm on Saturday.

The Welsh rugby fan had been in the city for the Six Nations opener against Ireland and was last seen by friends in Mill Lane at about 6.30pm, when he was seen leaving a queue for city centre bar Mocha Lounge by himself.

On Tuesday, his anxious family spoke of their fears that he may have been attempting to walk to his hotel near Cardiff Airport, around 10 miles away.

At a press conference, Ben’s wife of six years Jo, 38, called on the public to: “Please help me find my husband.

She added: “I would ask anyone who saw Ben after 7pm on Saturday to please contact the police urgently.”

Ben is around is 5ft 9ins, has short brown hair, blue eyes and was last seen wearing a white shirt with thin blue stripes, blue jeans and brown leather lace-up boots.

Anyone with information about where Ben could be should contact the control room at Cardiff Bay police station on 029 2033 8465.