The plane came down in the Congo and the only survivor has been taken to hospital in Kinshasa where he is being treated, UN officials said.
UN peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy, said the cause of the crash was not yet known, but investigators were looking at the possibility that high winds had caused the plane to miss the airstrip
The aircraft came down next to the airstrip and broke up when it landed, he said.
The UN peacekeeping mission in New York said that the small passenger plane was carrying mostly UN personnel, including peacekeepers.
Mr Le Roy said there were four crew members and 29 passengers on board.
A Congolese aviation official said the plane was flying from Kisangani to Kinshasa.
The UN Security Council expressed its 'deepest condolences' to the families of those who died.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, issued a separate statement, saying 'the loss of humanitarians and peacekeepers today is a tragedy for the United Nations'.
The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Monusco, includes more than 19,000 uniformed peacekeeping troops.
The mission is charged with protecting civilians in the enormous Central African nation which is wracked by violence from rebel groups and militias.
There are few passable roads in the Congo after decades of war and corrupt rule, forcing the country's deeply impoverished people to rely on ill-maintained planes and boats to move around.
Congo has one of the worst air safety records in the world.
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