A gas-station owner, Labani traveled to Yemen about two months ago out of concern for family members living there. His wife and 2-year-old daughter were living in Aden, and Labani had made two unsuccessful attempts to flee the country over the last few weeks. “He was trying to find a way out because he felt his family was in danger,” his cousin said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Labani also leaves behind two sons, aged 13 and 16, from a previous marriage. Both live with their mother in California.

Yemen is currently gripped by political violence, with Saudi Arabia launching airstrikes in the capital, Sanaa, aimed at pushing back Houthi rebels who took control of Yemen's government in February. Saudi Arabia, which views the Houthis as an Iranian proxy force, assembled a 10-country coalition this week to conduct airstrikes against the rebels. As part of its military campaign, Saudi Arabia imposed a no-fly zone over Yemen, shutting down airports and major seaports.

Yemeni-Americans who spoke to Al Jazeera say they are disappointed that the U.S. government has offered no assistance in evacuating them from the country.

The State Department said it was aware of the reports that a U.S. citizen was killed in Yemen and that it was working to verify the information. It added that the safety and protection of U.S. citizens abroad are among their top priorities.

To date, six countries have evacuated their citizens. Russia on Wednesday sent two planes to evacuate hundreds of its citizens from Sanaa.

That same day, the U.S. issued a statement saying, “There are no plans for a U.S. government-sponsored evacuation of U.S. citizens at this time.” While offering no departure assistance, the State Department did offer to relay urgent messages to loved ones.

Alazzani characterized the U.S.’s action as “shocking” indifference. “[He] tried his hardest to escape. Do they just not consider Yemeni-Americans to be real Americans? If they were Caucasian, would they have acted already?”

News of Labani's death comes as Yemeni-American community leaders launched a drive to raise awareness of Yemeni-Americans who are trapped in Yemen.

“The U.S. has effectively abandoned them,” said Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “It doesn't make sense to us, as citizens and tax payers, to hear that it's unsafe or impossible to evacuate nationals when much smaller countries who are not involved with the coalition violence have been able to get their citizens out.”

Billoo said that her organization knows of at least half a dozen families from the Bay Area who are stuck in Yemen.