Dottie Rambo, writer of more than 2,500 published songs, was killed early this morning when the bus in which she was riding ran off a road in southwest Missouri and struck an embankment. The Missiouri State Highway Patrol says Lawrence County Coroner Don Lakin pronounced her dead at the scene at 4:20 a.m. Seven other people in Dottie`s tour bus were injured, two of them seriously, all of whom are being treated at St. John`s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. Among them was Dottie`s manager, Larry Ferguson, 30, who sustained `moderate` injuries including two broken legs. Police say the bus ran off I-44 about two miles east of Mt. Vernon and struck the guard rail and an embankment at about 2:19 a.m. Police are uncertain as to whether or not the accident was weather-related. There were reports of severe storms and tornadoes in the area earlier during the night. Dottie`s former husband, Buck Rambo, told Paul Heil, host of The Gospel Greats program, that Dottie was apparently asleep in her bunk at the time of the mishap. The force of the impact apparently threw her to the floor, causing injuries which proved fatal. Dottie and her entourage were enroute from Illinois, where she sang Saturday night, to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to do a concert with Lulu Roman and Naomi Sego as part of what is being called the `Golden Girls of Gospel Music Tour.` Among Dottie`s best-known songs were `He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need` and `We Shall Behold Him,` which was the Gospel Music Association`s 1982 song of the year. Dottie Rambo was 74.