Two foreign tourists killed by lightning in Sri Lanka's central region have been identified as South Koreans, police said Sunday, correcting earlier reports they were Chinese.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said the victims, a man and a woman, had been erroneously identified as Chinese tourists after the Saturday evening strike in Haputale, 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Colombo.

"It is now established that the victims were in a group of South Korean tourists," Rohana told AFP. "The autopsies will be done today (Sunday)."

He said three other South Korean women were injured and were undergoing hospital treatment.

The group were at Lipton's Seat, one of the highest look-out points in central Sri Lanka, during a sudden thunderstorm, police said.

Sri Lanka is seeing an increase in the number of Asian tourists visiting the island after it ended nearly four decades of ethnic war in May 2009.