A driver has been arrested after a car crash that killed four university students in Malibu, California.

The group – who were all members of a sorority – were seniors at Pepperdine University about 25 miles (40km) west of downtown Los Angeles.

Officials say they were standing next to the Pacific Coast Highway when the driver lost control and slammed into parked vehicles that then struck them.

On Thursday, the university said the pupils may receive posthumous degrees.

The four women killed – Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams – were in their final year at Pepperdine’s Seaver College of Liberal Arts.

They were killed on Tuesday evening when a BMW driven by 22-year-old Fraser Bohm swerved off the road, police said.

All four were pronounced dead at the scene. Two others were taken to hospital and their condition is unknown.

Mr Bohm was arrested for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence on Wednesday, but the sheriff’s department later released him pending further investigation.

Investigators say they are still trying to determine whether he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash.

All four women were in their 20s and members of the Alpha Phi sorority on campus.

At a prayer service on Thursday morning, university provost Jay Brewster said all four women qualified to receive degrees at the end of the academic year due to their records of achievement.

Pepperdine is a private Christian university in the wealthy LA suburb of Malibu.

Weir, from Philadelphia, was studying English, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Rolston, from LA, was studying business and hoped to continue her studies after graduating in the spring. Her father says she was “always full of life”.

Stewart came from New York and was studying business. Williams grew up in a suburb of Atlanta and hoped to become a veterinarian.

The Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) where the crash occurred has seen a number of fatalities in recent years.