My Indesit WIA121 is continually filling with water... how to drain?

When I switch my just-out-of-guarantee Indesit WIA121 on at the mains electrical plug, no lights appear on the control panel and there is no response to any of the dials or buttons, but cold water endlessly flows through the soap dispenser unit and half-fills the drum. Clearly this machine is not well but - as a minimum - how can I drain the water out (and save my trapped clothes!) so that someone can start to fix the machine? Thanks for any advice !

C. Shaw
March 2008