NANJING: A man who killed five pedestrians when he was drink driving was sentenced Wednesday to life imprisonment by a court in East China's Jiangsu province.

Zhang Mingbao is seen at a court in Nanjing Dec 23. [CFP]

Zhang Mingbao was convicted at the Nanjing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court after he admitted endangering public safety.

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

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 a pregnant woman 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.

He was detained by police on July 1.