According to the privately owned airline Busy Bee, there were 16 passengers and two people on board.
The Dornier-228 plane had just taken off from Goma airport at 9 o'clock in the morning and was on its way to the city of Beni, 35 miles north.
Aircraft accidents are relatively common in Congo-Kinshasa, where safety rules are often poorly followed and aircraft maintenance is inadequate. A cargo plane that lifted from the same airport crashed in October. All eight on board perished.
No Congolese commercial airlines are allowed to fly within the EU.