A man who killed five pedestrians when he was drunk behind the wheel of his car was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison by a court in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Zhang Mingbao was convicted at the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court after he admitted endangering public safety.

He wept and said, "Sorry to you all" to victims' families, before he was escorted out by police.

Families of the victims expressed outrage at the sentence and could be heard in the courtroom screaming for a death sentence.

"The sentence of life imprisonment is too lenient for Zhang, who deserves the heaviest sentence. Without his crime, I would have had my grandson now," said Zheng Chuanrun, father of Zheng Ling, who was eight months pregnant when she was killed in the accident.

Zhang crashed his Buick LaCrosse into a street lamp, and then hit a watermelon stand before careering into nine passers-by and six parked cars on the evening of June 30.

Three people died at the scene and two died later, including Zheng Ling and her husband. Four others were slightly injured.

Zhang was confirmed to have been driving with a blood alcohol level of 381 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, well above the legal limit of 80 mg.

Wu Wenkang, vice-president of the court, told Xinhua the sentence took into consideration Zhang's "positive attitude in admitting his crime."

"Zhang has sold his house and raised 1.1 million yuan to pay for compensation for the victims' families," said Wu.