Bogota, March 24 (IANS/EFE): Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos fell off a bicycle presented to him by victims of country's internal armed conflict at a ceremony in Apartado city. But he was not hurt.

After riding a few feet, he fell but was helped up by participants in the event and his security personnel.

Santos used Saturday's accident to draw a comparison between what happened to him and his administration's efforts to assist victims of the country's internal conflict.

"In life, when you fall down, you have to get up and keep moving forward. That is what the victims in this country have to do," the president said.

"(The) president of the republic did not have the intelligence to see there was a stick in the way and fell when he tried to ride like a hotshot," Santos said.

"When we fall, we have to get up and continue on the path, including the path of peace. That is what one of the victims in Uraba told me with intelligence and brilliance," Santos said in a Twitter post after the event.