The accident took place yesterday when the driver of a Ford F-250 super-duty pick-up carrying 23 people veered off the highway near the unincorporated community of Berclair and rammed into two trees, Gerald Bryant, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said.
"There were multiple occupants in the front of the cab portion and multiple occupants in the bed of the pick-up truck," Lt Glen Garrett of the state Dept of Public Safety told CNN.
"It's been very chaotic here, and it's very traumatic," Houston Chronicle quoted Bryant as saying.
At least six of the victims were airlifted to hospitals, he said, adding the survivors had life threatening injuries.
The incident halted traffic on US 59 north