Three elderly women died from electrocution at a public bathhouse in the central city of Sejong on Sunday, police said.

The three, all in their 70s, were in a hot tub at the bathhouse in Sejong's Jochiwon district when the accident happened at 5:37 a.m. A witness told the police the three collapsed with a scream, and she called the 119 emergency number for help.

When rescue workers arrived, all three were in a state of cardiac arrest and were rushed to a hospital, but two of them died shortly thereafter, and the other was also pronounced dead hours later.

Several more people were in the women's bath at the time, but only those in the hot tub were affected.

"Electricity appears to have flowed into the hot tub," a police official said. "We're conducting a joint site inspection to determine the cause of the short circuit."

Officials said the bathhouse passed an electricity safety check conducted in June. (Yonhap)