SHERMAN — At least 14 people were killed and more than 40 were injured early this morning when a private charter bus heading from Houston to Missouri crashed along northbound U.S. Highway 75, police said.

Jim Mahoney / Dallas Morning News

The bus wreckage is examined.

The bus was transporting Vietnamese Catholic church members from Houston to a religious gathering in Missouri, authorities said.

The vehicle was part of a caravan of three buses with passengers from two Houston parishes -- Vietnamese Martyrs and Our Lady of Lavang, said Lochphang Dhan, parochial vicar at Martyrs. The bus was on its way to Carthage, Mo., for the Marian Days festival, an annual celebration in honor of the Virgin Mary.

"Please pray for us," said Holly Nguyen, a 38-year-old church member who was following behind the bus in a car but didn't see the wreck. She was anxiously waiting for word on whether her father, who was on the bus, was dead or injured.

Police were called about 12:45 a.m. after the bus carrying 55 people apparently lost control and rolled on its side near Post Oak Creek, just beyond West Park Avenue, Sherman police Lt. Bob Fair said.

The first officers to respond described a horrific scene, with luggage, handbags and pieces of the bus strewn amid a pile of bodies, some dead, some severely injured. There were cries for help and looks of shock, officers said.

Some passengers were ejected from the bus while others lay helplessly trapped inside the wreckage. Many passers-by stopped and tried to help, and some survivors climbed through broken windows.

“There were people deceased from the front of the bus to the back of the bus,” said Officer Zachary Flores, one of the first on the scene.

Twelve adults died at the scene and two died at area hospitals, authorities said. The survivors ranged in age from elderly to children, police said. All passengers who survived were transported to area hospitals, many with "crushing" injuries, said Sherman police Lt. Steve Ayers

“You’ve got 50-something people laying everywhere,” said Officer Tony Walden, also among the first on scene. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

Police and paramedics from McKinney to Oklahoma were called in. At least 18 helicopters were needed to transport the injured. Rescuers entered the bus through the front and through a hole in the bottom, police said.

A language barrier further complicated the operation, police said.

“What do you say when you see bodies all over the place and screaming for help and they’re talking a language you don’t understand?” Lt. Fair said. “That’s pretty much the definition of chaotic.”

Bryan Lam, 42, who lives near Houston, said his two younger sisters and mother were on the bus that crashed. His sister 24-year-old Lien Do had performed CPR on their mother, but she died at the scene. Xuanhoa Dang was 59. His other sister Tran Do remained hospitalized with a laceration to her head.

Mr. Lam said Lien Do had been released from a McKinney hospital. "She is OK," he said. "But she just found out her mother passed away."

He said he was offering his Vietnamese and English skills to medical staff and police and helping with translation.

"I am trying to stay calm," he said. "I am the only calm one. My wife and sisters aren't functioning right now."

Sherman police were leading the investigation and preliminary indications were that the bus may have blown a tire, causing it to lose control, Lt. Fair said. He said there was no indication any other vehicles were involved in the wreck along a stretch of highway where the nighttime speed limit is 65 mph.

The bus belonged to Angel Tours, police said. The bus driver was in stable condition and had been questioned by authorities. Police did not say at a morning news conference what information the driver provided.

The National Transportation Safety Board is launching a team to the accident site this morning to perform an on-scene investigation, said Terry Williams, board spokesman.

As accident investigators examined the wreckage, area funeral homes carted off the bodies, which had been wrapped in white tarp and laid in a row along a small hill not far from the white bus. By 5:30 a.m., all of the dead had been removed from the scene.

Meanwhile, the survivors were shuttled to hospitals throughout North Texas.

Two women and four men were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. One woman died at the hospital. Four remained critical and another was in serious condition, the hospital said.

At one point 16 patients were being treated at Wilson N. Jones Medical Center in Sherman. Five of those patients were in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. Later this morning, the hospital said two patients had been transferred to Parkland and Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas and four had been discharged.

The Medical Center of McKinney said it received a total of eight patients. Three were in serious condition, two were in fair condition and two have been discharged.

Spokeswomen at Methodist Dallas Medical Center and the Medical Center of Southeastern Oklahoma in Durant, Okla., said their hospitals each received two patients from the crash. Methodist said it had received one male and one female patient.

Texoma Medical Center in Denison said it had received five patients ranging from fair to critical condition. One patient has since been transferred to Baylor. Baylor now at least three patients listed in critical condition.

Presbyterian Hospital of Allen said it has treated and released three pediatric patients.

People seeking information on passengers can call 866-GET-INFO.

In Houston, Tinh Trinh, a member of the church for the past 20 years, said he was waiting to hear how one of his wife's friends was doing.

"I myself cried this morning when I heard the news," said Mr. Trinh, one of only a few people at the large brick church early Friday.

The Marian Days pilgrimage, which started in the late 1970s in southwest Missouri, attracts thousands of Catholic Vietnamese Americans each year. Many attend a large outdoor mass each day while enjoying entertainment and camping throughout the city at night.

Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr., of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri, said in a written statement: "Our Church is profoundly saddened by this tragic accident. Our deepest sympathies go out to all of those who were killed or injured and to their families."

The northbound lanes of U.S. 75 in Sherman were shut down and traffic was being diverted at the Travis Street exit, Lt. Fair said. The road was expected to remain closed as workers worked to repair the guard rail. The bus was being towed at about 9 a.m.

The accident was the worst bus wreck in Texas since 23 people died in 2005 when a bus carrying nursing home residents fleeing from Hurricane Rita was rocked by several explosions after catching fire on a gridlocked highway near Dallas.

The wreck happened less than a mile from the spot where a trucker crossed the median and killed 10 people five years ago.

Staff writers Emily Tsao, Ian Hamilton, Daniel Monteverde, Brian Whitley and the Associated Press contributed to this report.