SHERMAN, Texas -- The death toll has risen to 17 in the crash of a Texas charter bus carrying a Vietnamese Catholic group to an annual pilgrimage in Missouri.

---

List Of Deceased

Slideshow: Fatal Church Charter Bus Crash

Hundreds Gather For Mass Honoring Victims: Daniella Guzman Reports

Investigation Highlights Charter Bus Dangers: Amy Davis Reports

---

The unlicensed bus smashed into a guardrail and skidded off a highway early Friday morning near the Texas-Oklahoma border. Twelve people died at the scene and five more have died at area hospitals. Officials said the remaining passengers and bus driver were injured.

One of the three crash victims brought to Methodist Dallas Medical Center died Friday evening, hospital spokeswoman Kathleen Beathard said. The hospital's other two victims, both men, remain in critical condition.

Harris Methodist Hospital confirmed that an 89-year-old woman died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

The bus was carrying 55 people from Houston to Carthage, Mo., for an annual festival honoring the Virgin Mary. Most of the passengers were from the Vietnamese Martyrs Church and two other mostly Vietnamese congregations in Houston.

The Marian Days pilgrimage, which started in the late 1970s, attracts thousands of Catholics of Vietnamese descent and includes a large outdoor Mass each day, entertainment and camping at night.

Lt. Bob Fair of the Sherman Police Department declined to release the names of the dead because some family members have not been notified.

Federal investigators said they believe the bus hit the bridge railing on the right side. They said that's the side of the only tire that deflated.

Investigators said it had been recapped, which is putting new tread on an old tire. It is allowable, but not on the front axle.

Debbie Hersman of the NTSB said, "You are not allowed to put recapped tires on the steer axle. This was the only recapped tire of all of the tires on the bus."

The NTSB does not know when the tire lost pressure.

Hersman said that the recapped tire was on the steering axle. That is not allowed because if the tread separates from the tire, it can be dangerous.

She said, "If there is a loss of tire pressure, or delamination on the steer axle, it's much more difficult to control the vehicle."

Federal records show Angel Tours got an unfit rating and could not travel between states as of June 23.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said, "To date, Angel Tours has not provided the agency with evidence of satisfactory corrective actions to the problems discovered and remains out-of-service."

When the feds took away Angel's license to travel out of the state, the owner started a new company. State records show Angel De la Torre filed paperwork on June 10 for Iguala BusMex, Inc. The federal government said neither company was licensed to operate between states.

The company owner would only say, "I'm just sorry that this happened. That's all I have."

Personal injury attorney, Robert Ammons, of Houston, said a company's record is an indication of more.

Ammons said, "There are going to be folks who are rule breakers and don't comply. And when you have a company that doesn't comply with the licensing statutes, then you have to wonder about other issues."

The NTSB investigates but does not have any regulatory authority.

The 52-year-old driver had a commercial license but his medical certification had expired, she said. The driver was reported in stable condition at a hospital.

Vu Pham, 35, of Houston, said his brother, sister-in-law, mother and 12-year-old nephew all were on the bus. His brother, whose left leg has been paralyzed from polio since he was a boy, remained in intensive care Saturday in a Sherman hospital, he said.

"We thought it would be better for him to get on the bus because it's a far drive," Pham said. "Now he keeps saying that he should have driven himself."

Pham said his family feels lucky. None of his relatives are in critical condition, he said, "but we feel it could get worse."

"It's still a lot," he said. "You just take it one day at a time."

Like passengers around her, Leha Nguyen, 45, had started to doze off when she heard the bus make a horrible noise, followed by screaming. She opened her eyes to see people strewn about, one of them underneath a fallen television.

"I think I'm the luckiest one out of most people," she said.

It was the nation's deadliest bus crash since 2004, when 15 people were killed in a wreck in Arkansas on their way to Mississippi's casinos. In 2005, 23 people were killed near Dallas when a bus carrying nursing home residents away from Hurricane Rita caught fire in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

About 900 people gathered Friday night at Vietnamese Martyrs Church for a Mass attended by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo.

"We are here with them to pray for those who are lost and for God's consolation in this time of grief and loss," DiNardo said. "The Vietnamese Catholic culture is very strong. A lot of those who have come here have been through a great deal just to get to this country. They've always preserved their Catholic faith. This is a trial. This is a challenge."

DiNardo said the losses, which include church leaders, are "incomprehensible."

One of the victims was identified as Hoangy Thi Dung, 71, of Houston, who was pronounced dead by a Grayson County justice of the peace.

Organizers of the festival in Missouri said the victims would be remembered at Mass and at various conferences during the gathering.