The bodies of nearly 100 asylum seekers on a boat bound for Australia were thrown overboard in the ocean off Sri Lanka by their starving shipmates, according to reports received by Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor.

Sri Lankan authorities are expected to brief the Australian government about the tragic circumstances surrounding the rescue of 32 emaciated survivors, who ran out of food on their journey from Burma and had been adrift in the ocean for two months.

The survivors told their rescuers that they had to throw the bodies of 98 others overboard after they died of starvation and dehydration, Sri Lanka's police said.

The rescue took place on Saturday, about 465 kilometres off Sri Lanka's eastern coast.