K-band spectra of young stellar candidates in four southern hemisphere clusters have been obtained with the near-infrared spectrograph GNIRS in Gemini South. The clusters are associated with IRAS sources that have colours characteristic of ultracompact HII regions. Spectral types were obtained by comparison of the observed spectra with those of a NIR library; the results include the spectral classification of nine massive stars and seven objects confirmed as background late-type stars. Two of the studied sources have K-band spectra compatible with those characteristic of very hot stars, as inferred from the presence of Civ, Niii, and Nv emission lines at 2.078 micron, 2.116 micron, and 2.100 micron respectively. One of them, I16177 IRS1, has a K-band spectrum similar to that of Cyg OB2 7, an O3If* supergiant star. The nebular K-band spectrum of the associated UC Hii region shows the s-process [Kriii] and [Seiv] high excitation emission lines, previously identified only in planetary nebula. One young stellar object (YSO) was found in each cluster, associated with either the main IRAS source or a nearby resolved MSX component, confirming the results obtained from previous NIR photometric surveys. The distances to the stars were derived from their spectral types and previously determined JHK magnitudes; they agree well with the values obtained from the kinematic method, except in the case of IRAS15408-5356, for which the spectroscopic distance is about a factor two smaller than the kinematic value.
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