(Reuters) - One person was killed and nearly two dozen injured on Thursday when a bus carrying an Alabama church youth group overturned on a major road southwest of Atlanta, police said.

The bus was on its way to the Atlanta airport so the youth group could catch a Thursday night flight to Africa for a mission trip, said Detective P. Smith of the Fulton County Police Department.

The church group was from the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama, police said.

There were 38 people on board when the bus was involved in an accident with a vehicle carrying two people, Smith said. Police could not say whether the deceased was a child or an adult.

The condition of the two people in the car was not known, police said.

Video from Atlanta television stations showed the bus upside-down on the side of a busy four-lane road in southwestern Fulton County. The county includes Atlanta.

Smith said at least nine people were taken to hospitals, and two of them were in critical condition. WSB-TV later reported that four people were in critical condition.

Smith said at least 10 other people received medical attention at the scene but were not taken to the hospital.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash, he said.