NANJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- 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, 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.

    He said the government of the Jiangning District, where Zhang lived, had paid 3 million yuan in advance in compensation. Zhang said he would be responsible for repaying the money.

    Wu said traffic offenses usually incurred jail terms from three to seven years. In serious cases, the charge could be changed to endangering public safety, which could incur the death penalty, because people should be aware that drink-driving could have deadly consequences.

    Chinese courts have sentenced drink-drivers who caused fatal accidents to death, but some sentences were later amended by higher courts.

    China's Supreme People's Court explained that death penalty should be used only in extremely serious crimes, where strong criminal intent was proved and the crime had a significant social impact.

    Chinese police had apprehended 148,000 drink-drivers by the end of October since a nationwide crackdown was launched on Aug. 15, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

    The two-month campaign was extended on Oct. 19 to the end of the year, after a series of fatal traffic accidents caused by drink-drivers.