Developed with tailor-made hotel complexes and luxury villas, and sold to millionaires, the islands, off the coast of Dubai, are accessible by yacht or motor boat.

But now the islands' sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges.

"The islands are gradually falling back into the sea," Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, for Penguin Marine, said. The evidence showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands", he added.