Houthi rebels have taken a key air base from forces loyal to Yemen's President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, continuing an advance towards his stronghold of Aden.
Locals said rebel fighters backed by allied army units seized al-Anad early on Wednesday after heavy fighting.
Hours after the fall of the base, only 60km (37 miles) north of Aden, there were reports that Mr Hadi had fled his home for an undisclosed location.
But aides to the president swiftly denied that he had left the country.
Mr Hadi took refuge in Aden last month after fleeing Sanaa.
The rebels took full control of the capital in January, placing the president under effective house arrest and declaring that a five-member "presidential council" would rule the country.
On Wednesday morning, the Houthis' TV channel, al-Masirah, reported that rebel fighters had "secured" al-Anad air base, the country's largest.
There was no immediate comment from Mr Hadi's supporters, but locals confirmed the base had been captured by the Houthis and soldiers loyal to ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
US and European military advisers were evacuated from al-Anad last week after jihadist militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) overran a nearby town.
After taking the base on Wednesday, Houthi forces advanced to within 40km (25 miles) of Aden, locals told the Reuters news agency.
Soon afterwards, a source in the presidential guard told the AFP news agency that Mr Hadi had boarded a helicopter at the presidential palace and headed "to an unknown destination abroad".
But senior aides to Mr Hadi insisted he had merely been transferred to a "secure location within Aden" and had no plans to leave. Witnesses said they had seen a convoy of vehicles leaving the presidential palace.
Sky News Arabia quoted the president's office as saying Mr Hadi was "currently in the military operations room in order to manage the crisis".
Aden TV, a local pro-Hadi channel, urged residents to remain calm, preserve order and not allow "infiltrators and those with weak spirits" to encroach on public or private property.
Public sector workers and schoolchildren in the city had been instructed to return home and residents had begun to take up arms, witnesses and military sources said.
Meanwhile, Houthi officials said its fighters had arrested the country's Defence Minister, Mahmoud al-Subaihi, and a senior aide in the southern city of Lahj, where clashes between the rebels and Hadi loyalists were continuing on Wednesday.
State television, which is controlled by the rebels, also announced a reward of 20m Yemeni riyals ($93,000; £62,500) for anyone who captured the "fugitive" president.
On Tuesday, Mr Hadi asked the UN Security Council to authorise military intervention by "willing countries" to "protect Yemen and to deter" imminent Houthi aggression in the south.
He asked members of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and the Arab League for military help last week.
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